Just Another Day! (Blog #50)

Today marks the end of my blog writing project. This blog post marks my goal of 50 new blog posts by July 27, 2009. Happily, I have been able to write reasonably creative, inspirational and motivational blog posts. Of course, as you all know by now, today is my 50th birthday.

Such a milestone event may be celebrated in many ways. Some will prefer to celebrate by themselves with no one to remind them that they have actually reached this age. Others will yearn for a big party during which they will be able to forget the reason for the party event. Still others among us would prefer a quiet social event with our close family. This could include dinner at home or a fine restaurant, a backyard barbecue, a movie with expensive theater snacks, a camping or fishing trip or a vacation getaway to a tropical location, to name just a few of the ways to celebrate a 50th birthday.

I find there is always an inner struggle between what is practical, what is desirable and my desire for quiet reflection on the anniversaries of important events such as my birthday. From the days of my youth, I remember being asked on my birthday if "I felt a year older". My answer was always "No, not really!" That would still be my answer today. After all, as we have already discussed in the course of these blog posts, on the anniversary of your birth, you have already the number of years you are celebrating. Therefore, in reality, this is just another day.

Earlier today, I posed the question, "What do I do now?" One friend responded something like this: "Figure out what to do with the second half of your life. Just remember to have some fun." Those words are sound advice for any day we are able to live and breathe becomes the first day of the rest of our lives. Even more so, on a big day like a 50th birthday, when today is definitely the first day of another period in my life (possibly the second half of my life).

Here I am, fifty years old today. Old Testament levitical law required honor be shown to older people. " 'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.' " [Leviticus 19:32 NIV] It seems as though the verse loses something in the modern translation. In the King James Version, often more poetic in translation, the verse reads as follows: "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary (having gray or white hair) head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD." [Leviticus 19:32 KJV] Again, the Book of Proverbs declares "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." [Provers 16:31 NIV] I am sure that I have earned every one of the gray hairs which I proudly keep shaved off.

Today is today; tomorrow is another day. Soon today will be but a faded memory. On this day, I know that I made it to 50 and I was able to complete my goal of 50 blogs. Hope to see you soon!

~ DB Turnmire

One Week to Go! (Blog #41)

By this time, the most astute of blog readers will have figured out that July 27, 2009 means another birthday for the writer. Some among you will even know, through powers of deduction, that it is my 50th birthday. This golden event is supposed to be the first step on the path that leads to the "golden years" of life. However, a keen observer of society will note that the "golden years" are not always so golden!

Nevertheless, time marches on and one week from today at precisely 8:37pm, I will have been an individual presence on planet earth for exactly one half century. Fifty years seem like a long time when you are five or ten years old. Once you get here, however, the next 50 years will probably seem like a snap. My mother is approaching her 94th birthday in December and I cannot even begin to imagine what that must be like.

I am sure I will be inspired to write more about his upcoming event in my life. For now, there are seven (7) days to go and nine (9) more blog posts to reach my goal of fifty (50) new blog posts by my 50th birthday. To that end, I will leave you with a word of God from the prophet Isaiah.

" 'Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all you who remain of the house of Israel,

you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,

and have carried since your birth.

'Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.' "

[Isaiah 46:3-4 NIV]

~DB Turnmire