So I'm 48 now and reflecting on life phases...
Hopefully this encourages you to think, reflect & ponder who you are, where you are now and where you are going. 🙂
(I'm skipping birth-18 and limiting my scope to after high school graduation)
INVEST: This is typically a selfish phase of investment in self (such as college). In this phase you are tested to see how you do on your own (you don't have to listen to your parents if you don't want to). You will have many choices and freedoms and you will reap what you sow (Gal 6:4-5,7). I hope you choose/chose wisely, but if you didn't, at least you learned! (Heb 12:11)
ESTABLISH: During this phase (early/mid 20s?) we usually select housing, a job and what we do with our time (hobbies/passions/interests). Also during this phase we inform our decisions based on our lens and how we see the world and our place in the world. For me, I established that I'm a beloved child of God, that is passing through this world with the purpose of loving others and sharing Christ.
BUILD: On the foundation we established and the beliefs we have, we build, build, build. Hopefully in fruitful joyful labor, but the slippery slope in America is to accumulate (more, more, more). Society tells us that we can have it all, do it all, be it all and we can fall into the trap of building our own personal kingdom (life). We make many choices to establish security (retirement) and joy (entertainment/pleasure). I want to battle the busy rat race and remain in the peace and purpose established above.
CONTENT: (40s?) For me, I think I'm in this phase. I recently left my highly compensated and secure job to do work that is much harder for a fraction of the compensation (Marriage & Family Therapy). I did not sell all that I have to follow Jesus (Matt 19:21) and still live comfortably in a nice home and I have nice things. The milestone/change of this phase is to stop building your personal kingdom and focus more (more, more & more) on things of eternal value. No one on their deathbed wishes that they spent more time at work, so keep this in check.
CONTENT PHASE 2: (50s & 60s?) During this phase, we start to feel our age more, which reminds us to focus on the truly important and let go of things that don't matter.
CONTENT PHASE 3: (70+) If you haven't already, in this phase you'll experience more loss as people (friends/family/community) pass. Yet another reminder of what really matters.
So my takeaway as I reflect on these phases is how important our day to day decisions are! I'd argue that during invest, establish & build we can and should be content and focused on the truly important.
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And here are a few semi-related resources to consider:
1) Wild At Heart - stages of manhood (John Eldridge) link to Amazon
2) Primal Path - rite of passage to develop boys to men (12-20 yrs) https://primalpath.co/
3) Heart of a Warrior - men's spiritual development cirriculum https://www.heartofawarrior.org/
4) Raising a Modern Day Knight - (Robert Lewis) https://rmdk.com/
5) Resolute: men's ministry to develop spiritual mentors (Vince Miller) https://beresolute.org/
6) The Intentional Father (Jon Tyson) Amazon link
