Here was my closing challenge in last week’s edition of my Point of View: “How are you handling the reality of “generational theory” in your own life and leadership? Expect more next week as I continue to unpack this crucial understanding… Would you give me five minutes of your lifetime to explore something that could deeply affect the remaining days you have in this very temporary period?

You honor me with your willingness to invest these moments to hear me out. I’ve chosen to honor some predecessors’ points of view – consider them perspectives worth archiving – in setting my own personal strategies for life. One of them is a man who predated me by over 3500 years, but I hope to meet in the next couple of decades. 

His name was Moses; he left a pretty amazing literary bonanza before he died at 120. This is a short blast that I’ve committed to memory:

“Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away… Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” — Psalm 90

For decades, I’ve been committed to grow in wisdom. The person without wisdom is, by God’s description, a fool. He says anyone who chooses to ghost Him is a card-carrying member of the Fool’s Club. That makes Moses’ teaser even more important for me: “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Are you dealing with your life’s “use by” date in a wise manner?

Moses’ books – five of them – are the opening tomes of the Bible. That makes him an historic best-seller, by anyone’s measure. He lived 120 earth-years; he transferred to Heaven before the Jews’ historic return to the Promised Land, but he archived his insights for us to have during our journey.

My days are counting down; I know it and I feel it. That makes my embrace of having a personal generational strategy even more important. Moses is a great set-up for that; John Eldredge has helped me to pull that macro-perspective into a personal paradigm.

Eldredge delivered this guidebook in 2009: Fathered by God: Learning What Your Dad Could Never Teach You. He isn’t opining about Boomers/Busters/Millennials/Zs; instead, he’s decoding our personal timelines and codifying the role shifts that naturally occur through Moses’ 80-year model.

Allow me to summarize. Life starts with 20 years of youthful preparation. Learning is the agenda (that’s my take); John says that Cowboy is the brand worn by the young. Shoot ‘em up; wrestle the strays; chase the bad guys (all fantasy, but it feels real).

Cowboys progress to become Warriors and Lovers. It’s the 20-40 phase when our agenda turns to Launch (again, my view). For two decades, career life is where the battles are fought, while meeting, marrying and multiplying on the home front. Both are challenges that warrant focused attention. The Enemy works his evil to destroy both of those identities in the first half of life.

Beat Satan’s attacks – and sin’s lingering appeal to unholiness – and the Warrior graduates to the throne. From 40-60, the agenda is Leading; the role is King. Domains range from tiny to expansive but allow executive privilege to define daily experience. This is prime-time for most people; once the crown is comfortable, there’s an unhealthy desire to wield the scepter of power until death. Unless…

There’s an ultimate lifetime achievement award available to people who move from Learning (0-20) to Launching (20-40) to Leading (40-60) to… Legacy (60-80). Here’s my observation, from the reality of the laboratory called Life: Kings either die on the throne, unwilling to yield to their next generation, or they take their offshore accounts (that’s the Rich Fool of Luke 12) and “retire” to leisure at the expense of their potential for Legacy.

Buy John’s book now and allow me to continue this theme in my next installment. Are you in Launch mode? Is this your Leading season? Are you now juggling Leisure and Legacy? Big stuff; more is coming next week…

Bob Shank

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