I am a millennial, one of the older ones. I remember a time before home computers, but just barely. I remember the first emails I sent from my free Juno account and the sound the dial up modem made when it was connecting. I remember figuring out the Internet and AOL wayyyyyyy before my parents–which was just a foreshadowing, really, of the way my boys would someday instinctively work their way around my iPad.
My whole life, I’ve been a little precocious. My parents said I was 7 going on 30, and now that I’m rapidly approaching the real-life 30, I feel a little bit of the weariness that comes from experiencing so much of life so young and so fast.
I got married 3 weeks after I turned 20 years old. Then, I was pregnant with the first of 4 stair-step boys just 6 months after our wedding. We moved 600 miles away from home shortly after that, and the rest of life’s milestones have happened at the same quick clip.
When we lived in Charlotte, I was blessed with a whole host of older women who spoke into my life. They spoke encouragement, occasionally correction, they gave me perspective when my youth made my vision too narrow.
One woman, who I loved, told me once that because I was experiencing life’s milestones a few years ahead of my friends, I would be able to speak to my peers from a place of experience someday. Those words sunk down deep in my heart, buried themselves like a patch of hopeful seeds.
The funny thing is, at first I thought she meant I’d be really smart and have it all figured out by the time my friends needed advice. But, instead, I’ve come to realize that the one thing I’ve learned is that no matter what, no matter how bitterly broken or how crazy beautiful things are–Jesus is really the only answer. That is what I would know from hitting all those milestones a half-beat early.
Every milestone we approach in life will ultimately leave us undone if we don’t know Christ. It will leave us undone in unmet expectation, or exhaustion, or the cancer of pride.
Success without Jesus can lead to pride, living for yourself, and striving. Brokenness without Jesus is just hopeless.
Here’s the thing, I have nothing to say but the Gospel. That you are not enough, that no amount of good things in your life is enough, no amount of great service, no amount of obedience…none of this is enough. BUT, Jesus is enough. Always enough.
That’s what I’ve learned from getting married, having 4 kids, owning 2 houses, starting 3 businesses before I’m 30.
I am not enough, all these things will disappoint or exhaust…but Jesus is the prize. He’s the only enough, and He’s more than enough.
PS–I also learned that life is not a race. The good things in life generally come whether we push for them or not, and the heartaches come, too. Slow down, cool your jets, enjoy the now and the bits of beauty in front of you. At some point, most of life levels out…we all experience great joy, we all achieve to some degree, and we will all suffer. It’s best not to rush through your humanity. You only get to experience a lot of things in life once, and someday you may look back at today as “the good old days”. So, enjoy it today, too.