Makes Me Thankful

Daily writing prompt

How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?

I’ve spent the last few years reflecting on my life and attempting to note down all my memories, often with the help of what songs were popular at the time. I’ll list some significant events:

Starting School at 4-years-old
- I was very eager to start school, but after I did, I spent much time wishing that it would end 😀. Throughout life you tend to see the next phase as the light at the end of the tunnel, but often it isn’t. You face new challenges. Yet, I do have many happy memories of school life when I look back.
First Holy Communion at 7-years-old
- I left the Roman Catholic Church when I was 18. I don’t agree with its views on Priests, the Mass, Transubstantiation (the view that the bread turns into the body of Christ), yet, whatever churches I’ve attended, communion has always been a central part of my week. Jesus ordained it, and I’ve always felt a special sense of his presence when I took the bread and wine. And I vividly remember my first Holy Communion in 1969. You got a new suit and money from your relatives etc., but it really was a precious spiritual moment for me.
Pop music at 10-years-old
- I generally classify September 1972 as the first time that I took a serious interest in pop music. I remember learning and singing Sylvia’s Mother by Doctor Hook and his Medicine show. Before that, I did like music, but I associated pop music with silly hippies 😀. Then, everything changed. I love all kinds of music, but I particularly like the way pop music transports me back in time to particular months and years.
Confirmation at 11-years-old
- Catholics believe that the grace received at Baptism is deepened and strengthened in Confirmation. Again, I no longer agree with the Roman Catholic sacramental system. Yet, I vividly remember our teacher going through the gospels and the Book of Acts and it laid a good foundation for what would happen some years later. In my early teens, I questioned the religion imposed on me. If I had been born in another country, might I not be a Hindu, Protestant, Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist or whatever. And I eventually came to the conclusion that Jesus was the one to follow. The churches that seemed to align best to the New Testament were the evangelical churches. And so, I left the Roman Catholic church and attended an evangelical church. For many years, I was quite negative about Catholicism, but nowadays, I do appreciate the biblical teaching that it gave me. Much of its teaching seems to be based on theological speculations and traditions that built up over the centuries, such as the veneration of Mary and the associated doctrines. But from time to time, something that I learned in childhood comes to mind. I remember some lines from the Mass:
  - Lord by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Saviour of the World.
Teenage crushes
- A little taste of heaven. Nowadays, I see all that as a means of nudging us towards getting married and having children. But there’s something particularly sweet about falling in love for the first time. But all these things are just a foretaste of heavenly joy.
Making a Personal Commitment to Christ
- Roman Catholics believe that you’re a Christian from the moment of infant baptism. Evangelical Christians believe that you need to make a personal commitment. I felt like a Christian at time as a teenager and I don’t think that I ever considered abandoning what little commitment I had to Christ. But I just found the evangelical outlook more persuasive. And then, in August 1980, I committed my life to Christ. In some ways, it’s like marriage. You might be good friends with a few girls, or maybe one of them is your girlfriend. But with marriage you’re committing yourselves to one another for life. And in the gospels, Jesus does demand commitment. We’ never gonna be perfect, but we’re called to be his disciples. I did initially wonder if this was just a little spiritual phase that I was going through, but thankfully it wasn’t. And fellowship with other Christians, regularly reading the Bible, praying, and publicly identifying as a Christian made a big difference.
Marriage
- I only ever had one girlfriend, and I married her when I was 26. About ten years earlier, I might have had crushes on girls, but I’d be so in awe of them that I’d almost be afraid to speak to them – at least the ones that seemed magically beautiful. I took a more mature view of women in my 20s but these were wonderful happy years just the same. I could easily have not found a wife and maybe I would have coped, but I’m glad that I did.
Having Kids
- These were wonderful years. Maybe I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I particularly liked the babies and toddlers era. That pretty much marked the 1990s for me.
40, 50, 60
- When I was young, I was always anxious to be older. Then, getting to 40, 50, and 60 was a bit of a shock. I found 60 particularly strange. I feel as if I should be 18. I do spend a huge amount of time living in the past. Sometimes, it almost seems as if someone has teleported me into the future. And my parents and some close friends have now passed away. I’m beginning to feel that I don’t have long to go myself, especially given that every year seems to get shorter. I hope it’ll all make me more heavenly minded. And when I do wish that I could go back in time, I try to remind myself of all the boring and anxious parts of the past that it’s all too easy to forget about. Anyway, everything will be much better in heaven. Even if there wasn’t a heaven, I would look forward to a nice, long, eternal sleep 😀. But there is a heaven, and it won’t disappoint.