Thirty Something

My birthday's coming up and I normally don't make a big deal of it. Most of the time we do the usual birthday song and cake thingi, and I do a little reflection/ stock check/soul search... maybe because it is usually Lent/Easter at this time too, so it's all timely. Of course I am always glad for the few friends who still remember birthday.

So this is suppose to be when you hit mid-life crisis... Hmmm... Since the time we hit the twenties, my sisters and I have this phrase we use and then laugh at ourselves on our birthdays. It's the question of, "So how old do you feel?" We laugh because our answer is that we always feel younger than we actually are. It's not the typical "young at heart" mind set, but rather, it's the emotional and psychological fact that time is passing by too fast on us physically for the rest of us to catch up to. Very often we find that we are 2-3 years behind our actual age. There was even a time when I forgot my age. A friend asked me how old is Mike and I could not answer because I remembered the 3 year difference, but I could not remember how old I was!! Age becomes really fuzzy when you are no longer determined by a class room that tells you this is your age, this is where you belong, with everyone else the same age as you; with others a year ahead of you and still others a year behind you. When I entered university and then out to the working world, age suddenly seemed rather meaningless, invalid. We are all adults.

Recently I glanced through this article in The Star that talked about how irrelevant age is to the women in our modern society, i.e. a woman in her thirties and a woman in her sixties would experience life the same in it's routines and stress. Of course the article referred very much to women at the market place and the workplace. What they eat, how they talk, how they dress, driving through the rush hour... basically the same. A forty year old woman can die anytime of a critical illness or accident like a sixty year old woman.

So what do we make of it all?

"Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 1:2, NIV)

So it really does not matter if you wear Prada or Mimi, sip coffee at Starbucks or Kedai Kopi Teng Teng, have wan ton mee or alfredo for lunch. Life goes on and these things don't really mean if all is better or worse. Don't get me wrong. I love the mamak stall's mee goreng and nasi lemak bungkus as much as I love sipping hot chocolate and munching on chicken finger sandwiches with my boys in Starbucks (that's pretty yuppy I may say). Anyway....

Mid-life crisis? I don't think I have time for that right now. Just too busy with my boys. But I gotta admit it: I wish I have as much energy as when I was in my twenties. Otherwise, no complains.

As for my reflection, the word that stayed with me:

Ecclesiastes 5:19
Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.


Thank you, Jesus.