Steve Martin, Methuselah and Me

He’s an actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He’s written for comedy shows, hosted SNL, and toured the nation performing his absurd comedy routines. He has starred in a slew of movies (many of which he wrote), recently partnered with Martin Short doing a 2 man comedy tour, and wrote the books and co-wrote the music for one of two Tony nominated Broadway musicals. He won an Emmy for his banjo playing and co-created and stars in his recent hit series, “Only Murders in the Building.”

Steve Martin hands-down inspires me. Because he’s never settled, never stopped creating, never rested from seeking out and finding his next purpose. The thing about Steve Martin is that you can’t pigeon-hole him. He continues to redefine himself again and again. And at 78 years old, he’s not done.

Redefining has never meant as much to me as it does now, in my 3rd-moving-towards-my-4th-quarter of life. It would be so easy to sit down and ride out the rest of my life. But I don’t want to do that. I want to do the Steve Martin thing and keep redefining who I am, what I’m doing and where I’m going. However…

Friday morning I read something that made me re-evaluate this term “redefining.” I came across a verse in Proverbs. Proverbs 25:2. “It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.” Yep, I sat there a while with this verse because I loved the phrase, “privilege to discover.”

As I sit here now, I think that I prefer “discover” versus “redefine.” Because redefine implies a bit of work, process and replacement. Where discover is more of an adventure, a seeking out of what’s been hidden. Anticipation. A promise that it’s there but hasn’t yet been uncovered.

As I look at my life, I realize that it has been an adventure of discovering once I hit adulthood. Because nothing in my childhood prepared me for what was to come. I had no idea that I could act and yet I was a part of a fantastic drama team for 25 years. I had no idea that I could write and yet I wrote dramas, articles, a book, and now this “Monday” piece. I had no idea that I could homeschool or that I could create curriculum for kids. I had no idea that I could direct or produce or lead and yet that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s been a life of discovery for me. More than redefining. Because I’m still me but with new layers of opportunities and abilities being uncovered.

I then started thinking about Methuselah. The guy was 969 years old when he died. Good grief! I’ve been anticipating that I’ll make it to maybe 82 and then I’ll be done - you know, about 12 more years and I’ll be good to go. But Methuselah lived way beyond 82. So what kept him going? It couldn’t have been just waiting to die, because after the 200th year, he had to have given that up. So, I choose to believe that it was the “Steve Martin” syndrome. Each day or week or year he discovered something new about himself and kept on living a full and purposed life. If not for discoveries, what else would make this guy get up every single morning for over 900 years?

So, I’m rethinking my 82 year old deadline. If I can look at my life, at each day as an opportunity to go exploring, then everything changes for me. I’ll be thinking less about my timeline and more about what’s to be discovered. So, as I head into this new day and this new week, I can’t help but think of Proverbs and the privilege that's waiting for me. And then borrowing the famous line from Jed Bartlett in West Wing when he says,“What’s next?”