Once upon a time, in a land far away, when I was a young boy and thought I knew everything, life couldn’t have been better. Without a care in the world, well except for making sure the same amount of gas was in the car that was in it when I borrowed it from Dad, all that really mattered was having fun with friends.
I look back on those days with good memories. But to be honest, even though some say it would be nice to be a teenager again, I know I don’t want to go back to being a teen again. It’s not that my teen years were tough, I just don’t want to experience all that peer pressure again, nor have to worry about when my face is going to break out just before a date. Life for teens is also a lot different these days than when I was growing up. It’s true, we do live in a different world. While it would be nice to have the same moral base we once had, and it would be nice to not have to worry about all the trouble in the world today, there’s one thing we must reconcile within our lives. “The only constant in life, is change.”
As I look at how life rolls on these days, I must admit there are many blessings around me too. I guess I’ve never been one to look at a glass “half empty.” Instead, I’m the guy looking at the glass that’s “half full.” There are always options, and there are always incredible blessings on the way, or in our midst. All we need to do is open our eyes to see what’s going on around us, and in turn be thankful.
Could life be better? Sure. But, by who’s measuring stick are we using to measure betterness in life? As I sit here this morning I’m thinking about the wonderful blessings of family, friends, work, and yes, even a few material things. But most importantly, I’m thinking about the blessing of our middle son, who just returned from a mission trip to Mexico, who’s also another year older today.
Today Ryan is 17. That means tomorrow he’ll probably want to know if I’ll let him get his license yet so he can drive my Mustang!
Happy birthday Ryan!
Dad
