15 years And What Do You Get?

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10

Now there’s a happy thought to start the day! I’d add a sarcasm tag, but I’m never quite sure how that goes.

My husband and I have recently considered selling the house we built fifteen years ago. It was here that we completed raising our four children who have all since been launched to various parts of the country and beyond. Although we were in our 40s then, the house had been our first as we hadn’t had enough income to own a home when the children were young and we lived on one salary.

Fifteen years!

I know you’ve all heard folks my age (read that – grandmas) talk about how time passes so quickly. Blink of an eye stuff and all that. It’s often used to admonish young parents to enjoy their children while they’re little because they grow up so fast. That’s all true, but I hope this is not just one more sentimental piece idealizing the joys of having young children wonderfully complicating our lives.

So back to the proposed selling of our home.

It has occurred to me that fifteen years did indeed go by in a flash. Fifteen is not a very big number, and yet in that amount of time, I have observed tremendous change all about me. Of course, the home that was new a few years ago has begun to show its age and need for attention. Our parents have all died. Our children have gone from being pre-teens and teens (which once afforded us the luxury of resident slave labor) to adults in their upper 20s and early 30s – some with children of their own. Amazingly, my husband and I now both qualify for AARP discounts at participating hotels.

Oh my!

It has also occurred to me that if we stay in our home another fifteen years, it will be a 30 year old home. Who will want to buy it then? How will we take care of it then? What repairs will it require of us then? And that made me think of our lives in fifteen year increments which was quite a shocking and sobering thing (thus the opening scripture).

So let’s consider it.

Birth to age 15. Think of all the incredulous changes that take place in our lives those first fifteen years! Completely dependent on parents for the tiniest things at first, a child at fifteen is a handful of years away from being considered an adult. But who thinks about time then – except to hope it passes quickly to take us to the next big thing that is sure to be better than today’s.

16 to 30. Now we’ve gone from our first driving privileges to who knows. Marriage? Career? Parenthood? Still not too much thought to time although reaching that legendary age of 30 might give one pause.

31 to 45. Busy years. Strong years. Maybe we’re coasting. Or maybe we’re roller coasting as we juggle children, work, finances, dreams. By the end of this epoch, we begin to look over the horizon of time and think. Well maybe.

46 to 60. SIXTY!?! What? When did that happen? Now the horizon feels much closer than it did fifteen years ago, and it’s much easier to project fifteen years into the future and comprehend one’s finitude.

61 to 75. Is 65 really the new 45? Yeah. Time will tell.

76 to 90. If you’ve ever watched a family member travel these years, you’ll know how much change takes place within their bookends. Enough said.

I’ll stop at 90 as it’s well beyond the psalmist’s scope, noting there are but six fifteen year spans of time in a (quite old) person’s life.

I am just past the middle but only a hairsbreadth away from the second to the last in my list. If time continues to march as it has in the past, I expect the tempo will only increase. Truly, God is faithful – the covenant keeping and sustaining Lord of heaven and earth. I am eternally grateful for this truth, and yet I must ask: Where have I been, and where am I going? Am I honoring God in this day he has given me? Am I trusting him?Giving him the glory for things I think I have accomplished? Or am I, like that popular song of my infancy lamented, owing my soul to the company store?