What Do You Want to Be True 10 Years From Now?

Christmas 2022 fell on a Sunday. And while that isn’t especially remarkable, several people highlighted that the next time Christmas would fall on a Sunday is 2033. Gracious, how different our lives will be by then.

When that Sunday rolls around, my son will be 22, and my daughter, 18. Pending all of the hopeful/traditional things occurring, my husband and I will be empty nesters, edging towards retirement, intentionally transitioning into all the things the back half of life holds.

What brought this reflection back with roaring clarity was the news we heard today. A dear friend, diagnosed with cancer only three weeks ago, has already passed away. The whiplash of this reminded me afresh, we are guaranteed nothing beyond the very breath we are taking. And, I want to make sure we’re living that way. Thankfully, the Christmas of 2022 already started that process.

Following all the discussion that year about how different life will be when Christmas again falls on a Sunday, our family made a small but poignant change. On the dry-erase board in our kitchen, where information changes regularly, one thing remains the same. It reads, “Ten years from now…” and our future ages: Us in our 50s, kids in their late teens and early 20s. It will be here before we know it.

For that reason, it serves as a reminder, a touchstone, and a guide to ask questions like this:

• Ten years from now, what vacations do we want to have taken with our children?
• Ten years from now, how will we want to have spent time with our parents?
• Ten years from now, will it matter that we did this extra activity?
• Ten years from now, would that job opportunity be a good choice?
• Ten years from now…will this matter? Will that matter? What really matters?

Ten years from now…

Such a simple reframe and yet, whenever we follow that answer, it is almost always the most satisfying solution because it helps us align with our deepest values.

Whether it’s ten minutes, ten days, or ten years from now, I want so very much to be living true to what really matters in the great big scheme of it all because we only get one opportunity at this thing called life. May we do it well.

*Oh, and hey Ryan, we miss you buddy. Sure wish we had another 10 years. You were one of the really good ones.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash, used with permission.

Check out more of Anne’s mental health and faith content on her blog, in her Bible studies, and through speaking engagements!