Midweek Meditation: "When I Was Young ... "

On his deathbed, an old Rabbi once said:

"When I was young, I set out to change the world. When I grew older, I perceived that this was too ambitious, so I set out to change my state. This too, I realized, as I grew older, was too ambitious, so I set out to change my town. When I realized I could not even do this, I tried to change my family. Now as an old man, I know that I should have started by changing myself. If I had started with myself, maybe then I would have succeeded in changing my family, the town, or even the state – and who knows, maybe even the world." 

Wisdom indeed. It also reminds me of something else that needs to grow. Love in 1 Corinthians 13:11 which says: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me."

conrade