In online communities that I visit, I often hear the same sentiments regarding the 40's. These are fabulous years! Many women feel that when they reach their 40's they have let go of caring about all the comments and opinions of others and feel secure in who they are. Others embrace this time when they have a lot of experiences to reflect on, gleaning and sharing wisdom. True it is that some women get to this point emotionally and have loads of wisdom prior to their 40's... But, I have loved reading sentiments of others who woke up and tossed aside those opinions, stood up and embraced life! I find myself in that category...
If I've shared it once, I've shared it... more than once... one of my great life lessons has been to live life in the moment. Too many days I spent distracted by troubles and conflict and saw difficulty all day and evening. Gone are those days. Troubles and conflict still brew. I have learned, however, come what may, I can find beauty and joy along my path... each day.
So, I sit with a little snack and think about turning 42... I am glad that it's not 22 or 32... and I am glad it's not 52! I am glad it's today. Today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! How many times have we sung those words and it was just a song? Too many times for me! But, what a statement. Today is what we have! It is a gift. We have a choice. Will we rejoice and be glad in this day? We've also heard in song the words "for a moment like this". Don't wait a lifetime. Find your moment, every day.
Looking back at what I just typed, I ask myself, "Are you kidding me? Haven't you been one who battled depression off and on over the years?" Nope, I am not kidding me! I believe that I struggled with depression in the past for the most part because I felt powerless in life. I felt defeated. And that is not who God created me to be. I can not and would not tell anyone struggling with depression that they simply have a choice to be happy... it is not as simple as that! My heart goes out to those who have to work through difficulties like that. Life can feel so dark. So lonely. You can wake up and feel like the best you have for the day is staring at a wall. Please, keep going. Find one thing to do. Then another. Get help when you need it. I do not minimize that struggle one bit. I pray that one day you will wake up and realize life's potential and be able to embrace it with a bit of joy once again.
Back to my birthday... it's a beautiful thing to have relationships with others... to receive greetings and share time. I didn't capture each event with my camera. Drats.
The day before my birthday, I was blessed with loving wishes and goodies from my daughter-in-law, Sonia and my grandchildren, Christopher and Chloe:
Chloe kept trying to escape!
On my birthday, Shasta and Jayden arrived with goodies, too!
My daughter has talents that I don't have... She loves cooking and baking and does it quite well. She passed me up when she was 12. These are the most wonderful cupcakes I have ever eaten. She made peanut butter cup cupcakes... Honestly, I could ignore all breakfast lunch and dinner suitable foods, and just grab one of these and add a cup of milk and call the day good!
As I said, I didn't capture enough of my day with my camera. I slipped out of town for a few hours in the morning and shared a cup of coffee with my college girl, Bek. We had a lovely visit!! I can write a few sentences about it, but it doesn't really come close to expressing how nice it was to hang out with her for a while. I wish I'd taken a few pictures.
The best part of the afternoon was this:
And, to repeat myself, I didn't get pictures of everything that happened and I wish I had... My mother and father-in-law stopped by for a visit and my dear one came in with flowers, a card, and fixed dinner for me. Ah, he knows how to go for the heart... He grilled delicious steaks, made asparagus, added in tossed salad with our back yard garden fresh tomatoes and scrumptious toasted garlic bread. No photos, though. I guess I was slackin' a bit on my birthday!
(Shasta took a picture of the flowers from Scott... I will take more because a couple of buds have opened up and are stunning!)
This evening I will pick up 5 of my favorite people to spend a couple of days with... I'm really looking forward to peering into their little eyes, inhaling deeply as I hug each one of them and taking in each moment.
Blessings! Go live on purpose!!!
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