Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. 

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

-Oscar Wilde
I will be 56 years old this year. I am not as young as I once was.
There are some good things about growing older. Older people have much to contribute when they are able to draw on the wisdom gained from direct knowledge of life. It takes considerable experience of life to understand the fleeting nature of physical satisfactions and personal profit. I had a conversation with an old friend today who recently retired after coaching high school football for 27 years. We concluded together what he is now learning: that there is indeed wisdom in the discovery of the separation of "who you are" from "what you do for a living". This is a gift, especially for ego driven, success oriented males. 
In the first half of life, we all have a wide margin for error, and youth often is a time of experimentation. Certainly this was true for me. I was an experimenter for much too long. It is usually in the second half of life that maturity comes - which means we have developed some mastery over personal, self-centered drives. With this spiritual maturity comes an increased capacity to feel for others as much as we feel for ourselves. This is still a very challenging area of growth for me. My wife is a natural empath--she intuitively senses the pain of others and is drawn to help them with it. I guess that is why Leslie is a successful Nurse Practitioner. Her patients know she cares for them. A gem of wisdom she is learning and I am learning with her...it is a great gift to be employed doing that for which you have received a calling from God. I am still seeking that sweet spot, of contentment with His calling.
It is a great opportunity that we have in the second half of life: our hard-earned wisdom can enable us to bring about a quiet transformation of our society: through our livelihood, our interelationships, our churches, and our occupations. At the very least, perhaps the Spirit can enable a quiet transformation of my own personality...I am in need of further work!

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