Here's to 40

Scholars say 40 is a magical number. The number has so many representations in Scripture that it's significance is deeply noted. Noah first spent 40 days and 40 nights in rain that almost ended humanity. Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness looking for an alternative to the future God had already given them. Jesus fasted for 40 days before beginning his ministry. These are significant events in the story. They have meaning.

40 seems to be about cleansing, about purification and finding something deeper in the story. For Noah, it was cleansing the world from evil. For Israel, it was a purification of faith. For Jesus it was about finding reliance on His Father.

Yesterday I turned 40. I've now spent 40 years in this thing called life. I've spent 40 years in this world, twisting and turning the corners of life. I've enjoyed a lot of it. I've discovered the love of a good woman. I've known the bliss of my children. I've seen the heights and depths of friendship and community. I've known the joy of finding my calling in life and experienced it's pleasures. I've known the love of my Heavenly Father that astounds me. I've seen the Sistine Chapel, Central Park, Wrigley Park and the Botticelli's Primavera. I've read the Bible, Good to Great, No Future Without Forgiveness and Blue Like Jazz. I've tasted great wine, and enjoyed the world best Tacos. I've met great people and served some of finest human beings that still live on the streets. Life has been full of wonders and my heart has enjoyed so many of them.

I've missed out on a lot too. I was too scared during my teens to really enjoy my friends and discover what made them so great. I missed out on a stepfather that loved me more than I ever knew. I didn't get to play professional sports, even though I'm OK with that. I've never seen the seven wonders of the world. I've never been to the Alps. I still want to see the Great Barrier Reef, the Eiffel Tower, the Wailing Wall, and the Great Wall. I want to live to see my grandchildren and love them with a lasting legacy of hope and freedom to love. I want to find my Calcutta and show those who are lost that they are still part of God's creation and are deeply important to this world.

A lot of my friends have told me that 40 is when they began to settle into their shoes, enjoying the person they have become, as if the first 40 seemed to burn away the remnants of incompleteness. At 40 they discovered how much they had worried about the wrong things, and now could focus on the right things. At 40 they suddenly discovered that life really was about family and people and community. It wasn't about the stuff they could accumulate.

So here's to 40. I raise my glass to this magical number and hope that I can live up to the billing.