We’re pulling away from the house when my 13-year-old daughter looks back and notices our landscape guy mowing the yard. “Have you asked him how old he is?” To me, a 48-year-old guy, it seemed like a funny question, but I rolled with it and mentioned that it never came up.
Her little question has stuck with me for the rest of the day. At 13, age is very important. A couple of years younger, the person is a baby in elementary school. A couple of years older, and they’re the cool kids in high school. Shoot, she sees her 20-year-old brother as a grown man way older than her. I look at them and see a couple of kids not that far apart in age.
At my age, what are the important questions? I don’t care about how wealthy a friend is, what they drive, or the house they live in. More and more, I care about how peaceful it feels to be around that person. Like my daughter, I can see myself asking a question, “How anxious do they make me feel?”
Chaos is all around us. We can find it on the news, our social media feeds, our family circle, and our daily interactions when out and about. The anxiety from the chaos is contagious, and we pick it up from others so easily. I’m looking for friends who don’t add to the anxiety but help bring calmness everywhere they go because a peaceful presence is contagious, too.
As I think and type tonight, the important question is, “How can I move toward being a peaceful presence everywhere I go?” Growth here is difficult but worth it for our sake and those around us.