The Questions of Life

I was listening to some young women talk recently, and I was struck by how caught up they were with their tales of what he said and what she did. Ashamedly, my first thought was to judge how superficial those types of conversations are. I have lately been getting weary of the pop-culture’s preoccupation with what they are wearing and what we are going to do tonight and what we did last night and what she said to him. Then I had a revelation about how we think in the different stages of life.

From the time we’re born until we are about 22, we are discovering the answers to the question what. We basically want to know what is going on in this world where we live. As children, we must learn what the names of all the objects are in our universe. What does this word say? What is that continent? What is the answer to this math question? What do I want to be when I grow up?

After around age 22, we have a foundation of what, and then we move on to how. How am I going to accomplish my goals? How will I take all the whats and turn them into what is? So we set our hearts and our hands upon the task of accomplishing how the life we want to have will work.

For approximately 20 years, we invest a lot of blood, sweat and tears toiling through our hows; and then we hit around 42 and start asking why. Why did I make this choice? Why did I react that way? Why am I not where I thought I would be? Why are those children so consumed with what she said? Obviously, I am in this stage now. I do believe that this questioning process we go through helps us grow. We learn things about our world, how it works, and about ourselves.

I believe I will find that the prevailing question during the last stage from around 62-82 is when. When will those dreams I had come to pass? When will my children come around? When will my body give out?

I don’t know exactly why I had this revelation (I am definitely in the why stage), but it does help me to realize that these questions are a natural flow of life, and they are useful for us to ask. I must not chagrin the questions of another age. Also, if I feel stuck in any of these stages, unable to move to the next, I can ask myself the questions of the ages: What am I thinking about? How is this working for me? Why am I stalled in this stage when I could be asking new questions? When am I going to make a positive change to be in the place I want to be?

Let us never stop asking questions...of ourselves, of others, and of God. When we stop wondering, we start dying. But as long as we hunger for more, I believe we will be fed!