Hitting My Sweet Spot

Ever since I turned forty I've resisted the term "middle-aged". You see I have this theory that middle age only begins when you're half gone.

Well, it's official. I looked at the numbers this morning. I realize now I can probably slip into neutral and coast, downhill, from here on out. 108 is not looking nearly so promising as 106 did this time last year!

But this is GOOD NEWS in a big way! Because I've also discovered - and this understanding has been building over the past few years - that the fifties are my sweet spot!

So, this morning, I'm 54 years old and I've hit my sweet spot. How cool is that?

Potential - Possibility - Portent - Prodigious - Phenomenon:

Okay, so that's a lot of "P" words. I started thinking about potential and then pushed from there. You see, one of the great things about hitting the sweet spot is what becomes possible, what is released in terms of possibility once we engage - in full bloom - all that this adventure of Living Out Loud brings into play.

This is something I tend to talk about a lot. In "The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian" I use the concept "Living as if we mean it - because God most certainly does!" I follow a most prodigious Savior!

The word "portent" suggests looking forward, a "sign" or harbinger of what is to come. Today, then, portends prodigious and phenomenal possibility!

How do I know this? Well, I know this in terms of what I am already experiencing as my sweet spot, multiplied by a factor of promise. PROMISE is possibly the primo "P-word" of the day. I'm having a party with promise. Promise is a spiritual principle, and it's ringing true in the context of my birthday.

For me, hitting my sweet spot in the middle of my fifties, Christ's most poignant promise is that of peace (more "P-words"). So much of this world is ridden with angst; the promise of Jesus is an invitation to know peace.

"Peace I leave with you," Jesus told his friends around the supper table, "my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

I can't wait to see what's coming!