I am buried in work … again.

But then again, when I talk to most folks, they are as well.

Sign of the times, I guess. However, as my career progressed I began thinking to myself (sometime in the 90’s), “man, it really can’t get much harder than this.”

And then it did.

And continued to do so year after year.

The thought took me back to over twenty years ago when I was at Yosemite State Park doing some hiking (this was back when I was young enough to hike – motorcycling took hiking’s place). I was hiking up to the Bridlevale Falls thinking I would go up to the peak. Each time I thought I was near reaching it I would come up over a formation and find that it loomed above me ever further ahead.

Maybe this analogy is more synonymous with the world of IT services where I do my day job, but I think it is more synonymous with the more with less of today’s world.

Yes, I have complicated this with both my writing and my ministry. However, I also want these two aspects of who I am to mark the second half of my life as much as my career marked the first half.

Keeping the head of steam necessary to sustain this, north of fifty, is where I am struggling a bit. I have noticed a slow down in the past ten years. I would like to say this was unanticipated but if I am honest it was not.

Much of this is a mental state of course. I am still quite energized by my work and I like the niche I am currently find myself. It is a good fit for me.

Losing twenty pounds recently has also helped to improve my energy, but I am noticing that my sustainability is where I suffer most.

As the song says, “I may not be as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was.”

Which means that I must do my best work early both in the day and the week before I wear down as time slips away.

I consider this in respect to the things that I still want to do in this life. The places I want to see, the people I hope to meet and the things I still want to check off my list.

I am realizing that slow and steady does win the race. The fervor of youth must give way to the tenacity of age.

As I walk the banks of time, I find that the winds push ever harder against me and that I must mark each day’s progress by digging in deeper to sustain my place and pace.

I truly believe that my study of various philosophies has aided me in seeing life a bit differently, and accepting the slippage of time. Facing each day with a renewed vigor that is further sustained by my faith and my family.

No longer do I attack the day seeking to overcome it, but I try to flow more freely into it moving to subdue it without force.

I spent far too many years fighting a battle against time and the forces of this world that have worn down countless others far stronger than I.

Yes, I move more slowly now, more deliberately, no longer hefting the boulders ahead of me out of the way by brute force. Now slipping sideways to sidle aside the rough spots, standing firm when the wind and waves of adversity must be faced head on accepting a bit less progress for a season.

I know now, two things about life friends and family have taught me must be accepted;

Slow and steady wins the race.

Everything must be viewed in the light of a reason, a season or a lifetime.