My 7-year-old self would like a lot about 2016. Not only are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still fairly relevant, but Star Wars is even more popular today than it was in 1988. In 1988 my 7-year-old self had bootleg VHS copies of the Star Wars movies. Today there are seven movies, hundreds of hours of television and more books than anyone could ever read.
While the explosion of nerd culture would make my younger self very happy, the current state of my life would come as a shock. 7-year-old Scott Higa would be offended by the 35-year-old version of his life. Sure, he’d be happy that we got married and actually kissed a girl. He’d be fairly disappointed, though, that we have the ability and resources to eat as much candy as we want, yet choose not to. He’d also be very upset that we have our very own video game console, yet rarely find time to play it.
So much of my life would disappoint my 7-year-old self. In fact, sometimes my life disappoints my 35-year-old self. At first glance there is plenty about my life that I wish I could change.
I wish I played more video games.
I wish I watched more Netflix.
I wish I went to bed later.
I wish I slept in more.
I wish I ate more doughnuts.
These are the wishes of a 7-year-old. Which 7-year-old wouldn’t want to play more video games, stay up too late all while eating donuts? However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that there are more important goals than simply satisfying every fleeting whim and desire.
I don’t play video games because I’d rather spend time with my wife and my daughter.
I don’t watch Netflix because I’d rather spend my time writing.
I don’t go to bed late because I’d rather wake up early to run.
I don’t sleep in because I’d rather spend that time with Jesus.
I don’t eat doughnuts because I’d rather not have a heart attack at 45.
None of those 7-year-old wishes are bad in and of themselves, and I’ll definitely sleep in and have a doughnut every once in a while. However, simply giving ourselves to our childish, immature and sinful passions keeps us from experiencing the lives for which we were create. From the perspective of a 7-year-old growing up kind of sucks, but from the perspective of an adult, not growing up is even worse.
What do you do that your 7-year-old self would disapprove of?
I took that the route of job before reading the post. My 7 year old self wanted to work with computer. I held on to that goal through college and so my undergrad is in Computer Engineering. But the vision God had for my life when I finally stopped being a turd and listened was so much better, and would have freaked out the 7 year old me.
Yeah. I’m always wary of thinking I know what God wants to do with my life, because the reality could be significantly different in a few years or a few months.