You are growing old and your children are the tangible evidence to that. Somehow, though, while you are supposed to be teaching them to grow old, or at least grow up, their youth invigorates you. The dad chasing the toddler knows this to be true. I know because that dad is me.

It is funny, strange and perplexing how we can simultaneously feel as though we are never going to grow old and that we couldn’t get any older (all stemming from proximity and relationship with our children). I am talking more about mentalities than physicality. The tension is a persistent issue we either deal with or learn to push away quickly. Pop culture even reminds us. Songs testify to this relative feeling of age and time too. “Time is on my side” and “age ain’t nothing but a number” are a few classics.

As long as you are alive you can pray, “Lord, teach me to number my days.”

When we live with a sense of urgency it makes us most present and engaged in the present. Our families need us to be there when we are there.

But that understanding is like a cloud too and while it brings drops of moisture like tears, it also vanishes quickly. It’s like we quickly see right past it because we can see through it. So remind each other. And by that, I don’t mean guilt trip each other. We can also make this a constant prayer, “God keep this before me.”