For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:34 (NIV)
It’s April.
I shared a few weeks ago that a friend and I spent 24 hours at a monastery in silent retreat. Each of us arrived with something on which we wanted to pray and meditate. For me, it was April.
This month brings a harmonic convergence of three important milestones in my life journey.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of these chapter-a-day blog posts and podcasts. My first post was April 4, 2006. One paragraph on Mark 8. Twenty years later I’m still here scattering my chapter-a-day posts to the winds of the internet.
Around the middle of this month my first book will be published and available on Amazon. This Call May Be Monitored (What Eavesdropping on Corporate America Taught Me About Business and Life) is the fulfillment of a life-long dream.
On the last day of the month I have one of those monumental birthdays with zero at the end. Yet 60 feels more monumental than the others. At this waypoint on the journey the conversation turns to retirement, health, and golden years. It’s the back turn before the home stretch.
Hitting all three milestones in one month has me returning to three important questions:
Where have I been?
Where am I at?
Where am I going?
Which is why they were rattling around my head and heart as I read today’s chapter. Jesus is coming out of his own back turn. In chapter nine He made the “resolute” turn towards Jerusalem. He’s entering the home stretch, and He knows exactly what awaits him.
As I read the text with that in mind, I once again found a common thread running through Jesus’ teaching. How, then, am I going to live? His ways are not our ways. According to Jesus, living for God’s Kingdom looks different than living for this world.
Kingdom people don’t fear death – or suffering (vs 4-12)
The world focuses on ways to cheat death, ignore it, or prefer it to life.
Kingdom people don’t worry about hoarding wealth & stuff (vs 13-21)
The U.S. alone has over 2 billion square feet of self-storage space.
Kingdom people don’t worry (vs 22-34)
Since 2020, levels of anxiety have skyrocketed across the spectrum.
Kingdom people remain fixed on eternal perspective (vs 35-48)
The world loses itself in the temporary—rarely stopping to consider what lasts.
Kingdom people view current events through an eternal lens (vs 54-59)
The world spins with every trending topic and momentary news blast
And so, in the quiet this morning I find myself meditating on how I am doing as I complete my 60th journey around the sun this month. As a disciple of Jesus…
How am I doing at living for God’s Kingdom?
How am I no different than the world?
What changes would Jesus have me make coming out life’s back turn?
Because there are more days behind me than are ahead of me.
And that’s no April foolin’.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
Congratulations on your book launch! Twenty years of the blog, imagine how many of us (me!) are inspired and challenged by your words.
In my experience, early 50’s, my parents and older relatives are all long gone. I’m always looking for conversations with anyone older than me. Literally, coffee shops, parties, grocery stores…
We’re about the same age, but I urge you to share your lived experience with young(er) men and women. Everone’s growing older, so few are talking about what they’ve learned (unless its about business or self improvement to stay young).
Teach-share with us how to stay alive while we age.
How to parent adults.
How to be a friend to a widow without being too much. Thank you, Tom
Awww… Thanks, Christy! Thanks for your kind words and I will continue to both live, and share life, as long as I have breath! You made my day today.