Thoughts on Maturing

I didn’t have to work today. The factory didn’t order boxes in time for us and since there none until tomorrow, I got the day off. Well, it wasn’t quite that easy. As I was leaving the factory, the plant manager told me that he could two of our 6 team members to work in the Pressure Guard area. He suggested me and one of two other guys. Hmmmm. A dilemma. Fortunately, he suggested that I talk it over with Dan and let him know.

Earlier in the day, Ed (the plant manager) had spoken to me about going full time and working between the factory and supervising the T-Net portion. (That was the original offer.) I told him that I was definitely interested. He seemed pleased and said that we would get together with the factory owner and Dan (director of T-Net) next week and hammer out the details. I about flew out of the office. I felt hopeful and happy. It felt good!

When I got back to T-Net at the end of the day, I talked to Dan about the day, the offer, and the dilemma. I suggested that since I was already looking at being hired on that he consider sending both the other guys out to the factory to work. These guys are really hard workers, and both of them need the opportunity to work full-time. Dan thought it was a good idea. He told them that I was willing to step aside for them. They seemed really appreciative. I didn’t do it for that…but it felt good.

So, I got to sleep in this morning until 7am. Now that really felt good!!! And I’m at T-Net working on grants. Can’t you tell I’m working on grants? I have done some reading and pulled up a couple sights to check, but I wanted to come here and write about something that we went over in devotions this morning.

We’re on day 28 in Purpose Driven Life: Growth Takes Time. He opens the chapter by talking about how tomatoes are picked green for shipping and then before they’re put out for sale, they’re given a shot of CO2 that “forces” them to ripen. He invites the reader then to consider the difference between the quality (and deliciousness) of vine ripened tomatoes verses the forced ripened ones we usually find in the market. We were all salivating thinking of the juicy fresh tomatoes of summer.

As I was thinking of the process of maturing, I was quickly reminded of a time when I took my then three year old daughter to the library. She insisted that she wanted to learn to read. I assured her that she would. That was not good enough. She wanted to learn right then! I tried to explain the process, but my words fell on angry and disappointed ears.

Kids want to grow up so fast. That led me to think about the whole “gotta get my license NOW” thinking. It scares me that some states allow children to drive when they are only 14. No 14 year old is mature enough to manage the decisions it takes to control the mass weapon of destruction we call the automobile. I thought it was interesting that I caught a passing blurb while surfing the net where some states are considering raising the age for acquiring one’s driving license.

What is with the obsession with growing up so fast? I can remember wistfully wishing I was older and on my own, old enough to make my own decisions, just older! I remember both of my girls verbalizing similar wishes; usually when they were receiving a consequence for their misbehavior—as if being older would absolve them of the consequences. And, isn’t that immature thinking at its worst?

I wish I would have been raised by people with healthier boundaries. I wish I would have been around more people that understood the importance of rhythm and pace, of the process of ripening. My life was consumed with competition (between my siblings and me, and between my friends and me). Life was about achieving and accumulating: knowledge and possessions. It wasn’t until the last four years that I have begun to value process, journey, balance, and peace.

If there is any gift I can give to my children now, and to my grandchildren (optimistically thinking in the plural!), it would be the lessons I have been learning. I want them to relish the moment, the living in the now so that when they get to where I am there will be fewer “I wish I hads” and “if only.”

Mmmmm. Smells like lunch just arrived I’ll have to finish thinking about this later!