Something truly wonderful happened at the U.S. Open Golf Tournament at Bethpage Black. The winner was Lucas Glover and he was ranked 71st in the world of golf. Don’t you love it when someone nobody expects to win achieves their dream? Each day each of us has the opportunity to score big and win our dream. That is assuming we have personal dreams. It is very important, no matter how old we are, to be reaching for a new goal. Each day we can stretch ourselves beyond our present or past achievements. Our biggest competitor in life should be the person we see in the mirror.
Commencement addresses are usually very formulaic. The graduates are young and it is easy to tell them the usual “Go out there and grab your share of life and success.” But how often would we make a similar speech at an AARP convention? Instead, when there, we would talk about government polices that affect drug prices and how to get our share of the assistance pie. Real success in life comes from personal achievement. Learning a new skill, a new language, a new field of knowledge is so rewarding. While it is true we might not have the physical skills or the mental agility we had a few decades past, it is also true there are still multitudes of things to accomplish.
There are volunteer opportunities in our communities and our churches. Most colleges offer free courses to seniors. Last semester I had a very interesting man in his 70’s take my human development course. His contribution was invaluable. And the biggest goal of all is with God’s help being a better person this week than we were last week.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 24, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry,PO Box 124,St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org