When you’re old it’s important to be young at heart–to avoid the cynicism that so easily comes as a result of chronic disappointment. Can we find joy amid suffering? Can we see the world in the vivid hues that children see? Can we learn the art of being fully present in the present even as we come to terms with our mortality?

When you’re young it’s important to be an old soul–to avoid the folly of youth that lives only for the present with arrogant disregard for the future. Can we learn to appreciate the wisdom of the aged? To expand in generosity while our peers are incurved in a too-small world of self regard? Can we consider the impact of compounding interest as we invest, with discipline, in our character today?

To my dear friends: Thank you for your old souls–ever young at heart. You give me great joy and hope amid the apathy, anxiety, shallowness, and cynicism so prevalent around us, and ever-threatening from within.

Go make someone’s day.

“You see, I don’t think age matters so much as people think. Parts of me are still 12 and I think other parts were already nearly 50 when I was 12: so I don’t think it very odd that they grow up in Narnia while they are children in England.”

C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children, 34.