On my Birthday

    I am 41 today.  Not much harder to remember - no big deal. So be it. Age is refining to me. It does not define me - and it is purely, math and sweet time.  I am still, young at heart. But an old soul.  I will tell you, there was a time that I never thought I would get all of the crazy out of me - I always had to be doing something.  I realized in time,  that the average woman was about ten times crazier than I, and life would be okay in the long run. Nowadays, peace tends to find me in the quieter places, being still in the silence sometimes.  You know wisdom and better sense are upon you, when you are seasoned enough to drink beer for the taste, and not so much, the effect. Life is much about moderation, across the board. Balance.   But at the end of the day, if you want to take life seriously, live it seriously. I have never been more comfortable with myself, and for me, that is enough. In my own skin, and bare to the world.

   I think birthdays are good for us, in that you can, for one fine day,  get free stuff.  I'll take the cake and Skyline Chili all day long. Other than that, it is a cyclical reminder of all the yesterdays behind me, and time gone into the wind.   It is funny how the times of our life see us living the roller coaster of wanting to be older, then wanting to never get older, then wishing you were younger. But after that, are the seasons of the good life - the years where you are happy and satisfied with who you have become, and how old you are. You never have to look at life as getting older when you become wise enough to understand, there is little you can do about it.  Embrace the reality of time. We fly,  while it stands still. A measure of our moments that I find to be foolish, when I am firm in the faith that I will live eternally because of what Jesus Christ means for our lives. My real birthday is on the day and in the moment that I came to believe and know this truth.

  I have plans this year - expectations so to speak. I would rather have resolve, than resolutions. My overall goals have little to do with me, and much to do with helping others.  A purpose and vision in ministry that will begin to form and define the rest of my years. Our purpose finds us, and away we go. I carry another heart into my future today, a true compliment to me.  These have made all the difference. I believe that it is not how many birthdays we have behind us, but how many we believe are ahead.