Reflections of a not so young man

Mortality often raises its head when some event occurs that requires the participant to consider the breadth of ones days. The same thing seems to transpire on the anniversary of one's birth, especially when one is on the other side of fifty. The jokes come fast and furious; the attempts at levity mostly failing but sometimes striking a bulls eye; and the aftermath leaves one looking for a much needed drink while considering the purpose of one's existence.

Of course this only happens when one has time to reflect or is an insomniac. Being overwhelmed with the varieties of every day struggles does not give one much time to ruminate on the passing of time. Yet here I am having completed 57 years (not to mention the nine months of once protected bliss in the womb) and curiously without some pearls of wisdom to pass on to both the reader or posterity.

I can state categorically that "time" seems to be moving much faster than I seem to remember. The calendar showed September the last time I recall looking. December is fast disappearing and it will be 2011 in another week. My sons are getting all taller and some of the younger ones are almost my height. My second daughter is six months pregnant with her third child and her oldest boy is already three years old. Together with the two year old girl and their 9 month old cousin, they are the joys to a grandfather's heart. Still the weariness of the day to day grind and the seeming failure of people to put aside their petty squabbles is more irritating than ever. Whether it be at the national level or among parents at school, I am more frustrated at what is clearly a "failure to communicate" than ever before. Yet at the same time I realize this is our fallen human nature and that I have probably frustrated just as many folks over these past many years.

So in the end as my mother would remind me and my father would expect, I turn to God for consolation. I thank Him for all the blessings He has and continues to pour down on me. I complain about the idiots I have to deal with and then laugh at the thought that others may be complaining about me in just the same way. I thank Him for my wonderful wife, my long suffering children who have to put up with their loud father, my parents who are still with us, my siblings who give me never a reason to worry and for the work I do.

Most people on this earth work, live and die without knowing whether they have been able to make a difference in people's lives. Survival may be the most important ingredient to their world. But I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to help people in many small ways both through my law practice and my work in right to life. I have been blessed to have opportunities to suggest the Gospel as a way to help people find peace. And once in a while I have heard that those suggestions bore fruit. Such reflections are helpful when one considers how much is still to be done. And it is an encouragement to know that God uses all of us broken wounded people who are willing to be the instruments of His will.

With a seven year old who is now very much into football, I have no time to get "old." I must run with the young bucks and assert myself even as they tease the "old" man. I still have to initiate the remaining three of my nine sons into manhood. I cannot falter but must renew my strength so as to complete the race.

Finally I must be the example so that they will understand what faith calls a man to be. Mortality will have to wait. The battle still requires the effort. The right to life must still be restored into law. There is still much work to do.