Fifty.

I will be 50 in 11 years. When I am 50…

My children will be 24, 22, and 17.

I will have lived in my little red house for 26 years.

It will have been 31 years since I met the father of my children.

It will have been fifteen years since we parted ways.

I will have been sober for fifteen years.

I will have been a Christian for 13 years.

Those are the only things I know for sure (God willing). They are the things that make up the frame of my house but what other materials I choose to complete my house are unknown to me.

That is exciting.

But why stop at 50? The average life expectancy of a female in the United States is estimated to be 81.47 years. So in 11 years, when I am 50, I will only have 31.47 years left on this Earth.

Perspective.

There’s not much time is there?

39, 50, 18, 102…

When you think about it the numbers are irrelevant because in the end, as James says,

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

We only have one chance to build this house of ours. Each kind word is a piece of drywall, each generous gesture is a wooden beam. Love, kindness, generosity, compassion, forgiveness are all the materials, supplied by the most righteous general contractor, we need in order to make our house beautiful not only for us who live there but for all those passing by and entering in.

Categories: Lotus