Somewhere in an old box in my study I found a photo of me when I was eighteen. It was taken during 5th period band on a practice field. I had a drum major whistle around my neck and I was playing the trumpet. When I think of all the decisions I've made since then, I can't help but chuckle as I wonder, on any given day, what were the biggest decisions I had to make back then.
Items not on the list were things like: money for the mortgage, food on the table and insurance for the car. Mom and Dad decided things like that so I could be a kid. And being a kid was fun. But there came a time later, and it was more a gradual process than an overnight bombshell, when adult decisions started to be made such as choice of career, who I married, where I lived. It wasn't long until children of my own became beneficiaries of my decisions. Mortgages, schedules and budgets were now part of everyday life.
Sometimes, when I find old photos like this, I feel like that was a different life and I am a different person. Back then it was. I was. I can escape and reminisce and remember how fortunate I was back then to have been afforded the beauty of a carefree childhood. But to the man who is given much, much is also required. I am not unaware of the immense blessings of my life--my faith, my family, my relationships, my home. Each of these have required a pretty serious commitment.
Some people may have wished to go back to a simpler time in their life for one reason or another. Not me. Most of what I have in my life now has been decided on since that carefree afternoon in the picture. The happiness and fulfillment I have in my life now could scarce be understood by that blond-hair-blowing-tennis-shoe-wearing-trumpet-playing teenager back then.
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