These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things!

Today I am in a reflective mood, therefore, this may or may not make sense.


One of the things I realize more and more as I grow older is how difficult it is for me to nail down favorites. The song about favorite things from the Sound of Music lists a variety of items that are favorites of the writer and expresses the idea that these things are there to be remembered when things don’t go so well. While there’s plenty of truth in how our memories are useful to us, it’s the process of identifying favorites that has become tough for me.

At one time I may have had a favorite color. But if I do now I don’t know exactly what it is and I no longer know if it really matters. I now answer what my favorite food is by saying anything that is home cooked, where as before I may have had a specific dish in mind. Since I have been a Bible teacher for forty years many people ask what my favorite verse is. I honestly don’t know. I count my life verse as being Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. I count my model verse for teaching to be Nehemiah 8:8 “So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading”. This is the verse I try to follow when I teach.

But I really can’t define a favorite Bible passage because I have way too many and new ones are being identified all the time. I’ve done some of those on-line profiles where they try to figure things out about you by the answer to your questions. There was a time in my life whenever I may have had a favorite TV program, or a favorite hobby, or a favorite writer. Now I end up guessing at what might be something that’s in the ballpark and I’m sure this distorts the results.

This doesn’t mean I lack passion. I am very passionate about the things that matter in my life. I believe in priorities and while I might not always be able to keep everything in order, I know that God should come first in all things, that my wife and family are a priority, and that God would have me to do my best in serving others wherever I happen to encounter them. Maybe growing older does include some of the “been there, done that, now what?” thinking.

Perspective is a developing process and I’m sure maturity becomes the lens through which much of life is seen. I enjoy being with my wife. We don’t have to be doing anything. She still likes to go places and do things but I’m perfectly satisfied just being with her. We now find more to laugh about than to argue about although we still know how and occasionally we have a pretty good one and I think it surprises us both. I know some guys my age who want to find things that remind them they are still able to embrace their wild side, so they jump out of a perfectly good airplane, or bungee jump into a deep ravine. I have no problems with that, but I don’t feel that need.

At the same time, I never want to become stale, bland, or lukewarm for it’s my desire to live with “all of the above” in their proper order with an excitement that’s based on God’s power living through me. That power may show itself in any number of ways but in the end I do pray that it makes a difference for time and eternity, not only in my life, but in the lives of my family, and others that I can influence, and that it all tallies up into great honor and glory to the God who gave me the life I have. Amen. …..More later.