As I enjoy my final months of being 59, I resonate with this writing:

"The human soul is like a fine wine that needs to ferment in various barrels as it ages and mellows.

The wisdom for this is written everywhere, in nature, in scripture, in spiritual traditions, and in what is best in human science.

And that wisdom is generally learned in the crucible of struggle.

Growing up and maturing is precisely a process of fermentation. It does not happen easily, without effort and without breakdown.

But it happens almost despite us, because such is the effect of a conspiracy between God and nature to mellow the soul."

(Ronald Rolheiser, Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity)

I feel caught up in God's conspiracy to mellow my soul.

I am SO here for it.