A resurrected post

This is a post that I managed to rescue from my old Wordpress website before it got destroyed by malicious code. It was originally published in 2014 so I have updated some of it to reflect my changing views. I hope you enjoy it.

Six months ago I saved an article by Sam Leith in The Times entitled, What not to do over 40: men's rules for ageing gracefully. I don't know what made me do it since I'm well over 50 now and my turning 40 is lost forever in the mists of

time. My guess is that I was dwelling on a theme that is pretty important to me --- finishing life well as a Christian.

Leith's rules for what not to do over 40 are listed below, together some comment from yours truly.

1. Don't say: "I can't cook"

Agreed.

2. Please don't do drugs

Agreed --- at any age.

3. Don't wear band T-shirts

Agreed.

4. Don't date someone in their twenties

Agreed --- especially if you're married. If I wasn't married this would be incredibly unlikely to happen!

5. Stay away from energy drinks

Agreed.

6. Don't spend all day thinking about dying

Agreed, but it is nevertheless healthy to live life with some perspective with regard to its end.

7. Don't understand any of the "celebrity stories" in the "sidebar of shame"

Agreed, assuming I actually understand what this means. I rarely recognise the faces, let alone know the names, of most "celebrities".

8. Don't stop reading fiction

Agreed.

9. Avoid getting completely s***faced at parties

Agreed, even if I would prefer more genteel terminology.

10. Don't be moody

Agreed, but "guilty, Your Honour".

11. Don't do parkour

I've had no idea what parkour was when I first published this post, but having just put "parkour" into Google, I agree.

12. Some sort of sporting activity becomes semi-essential

I semi-agree.

13. Clubbing: that ship has sailed, my friend

Agreed. To be honest, this is not a ship that I've ever sailed on.

14. Don't moan about what might have been if you hadn't had kids

Agreed --- as if I ever would! (I have to say that since my children may stumble across this post).

15. Don't buy clothes from the back of weekend colour supplements

Agreed.

16. Don't wear trainers when not actually doing sport

Agreed. This is a longstanding conviction of mine.

17. If you take up snowboarding, you will die

Agreed. I don't even enjoy making a snowman.

18. Where's the dignity in puttering about on a Vespa?

This raises possibilities that I have never seriously considered. However I am not Italian, nor do I live in a sunny place, so agreed.

19. Know how to bleed a radiator or put up a shelf

Amen to that. As I age, knowledge does not always still carry through into competence.

20. Smoking will make you poor and smelly, and it will kill you

Thankfully I've never been tempted.

21. Don't flirt with teenagers

See Rule 4.

22. Don't become a wine bore

This is a difficult one to comply with since knowledge of wine only comes with

experience. And experience can be gained from others.

23. Embrace thinning hair

I have unwittingly followed this rule for many years. In fact, I may have overdone it!

24. Wear pyjamas

Agreed, but only in bed.

25. Take pride in your eyebrows

Like most Christians, I should shun pride. However, I have yet to be tempted to take pride in this specific facial feature.

26. Don't go too off-piste with the facial hair

I'm still waiting for full puberty so I can have a decent shot at growing a full beard. My moustache has been relegated to the annals of history after it outstayed its welcome by a couple of decades.

What rules would I like to add to this very full list?

What rules would you add?

As a Christian, I propose one more: stay hungry and keep reaching out for more.

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

His view was that “mature” Christians should be people who are pressing on, stretching out, and reaching for the goal in front of them. Not rejecting the attainments of the past, but building on them. They should be like athletes in motion — eyes fixed on the finish line. Not a bad outlook on life for those over 40 or 50 or 60 or whatever…

What rules do you live by? What is changing for you as the years go by? What rules for life will help you finish the race?