too much about what they’re going to be when they grow up. I know I do. Just lately, though, and almost certainly spurred on my encounter with my heart issues I’ve begun to see a few things.
First I don’t think you ever grow up if by that you mean reaching some state where you have arrived at wherever you planned to go. A person might want that but life has this interesting tendency to get in the way of things. A person always seems to be a product under development, even if they really don’t want to be, so get used to the ride because it’s how things are supposed to be.
And then what does it mean to “be?” We think of this often times in terms of an occupation or a certain status, something external we can achieve. Is it? It may be a part of it but such an idea may also escape the essence of what being is all about because it focuses on externals.
I like the Christian answer, “Be a Christian, be like Christ, and the other things will make sense within that larger context.” What should I be as I grow up? I should be a Christian and the rest of the stuff, what job I have, where I live, my education, it will all find a way to work itself out.
In fact, I’m not really obligated to be anything except for a Christian. There can be good in the rest of the things of life, but there’s no obligation. I can be this one day and that another as I work to make a living but my real occupation is to follow Christ.
There’s a tremendous amount of freedom in that and very little of the “I must get this all in before I die” panic that grips so many. There’s a quote attributed to St. Augustine (at least from my sources) that says “Love God and do what you please.” There’s a lot of truth in that and as I get older and still about the whole growing up thing it makes more and more sense.
The Beautiful Path 