Monday, April 5, 2010

The Eve of my 29th Birthday

In less than 24 hours I will be 29 years old! That is so crazy to me. My life is totally not what I thought that it would be at this point, but I think I love it none the less. I thank God for placing me where I am. I thank God for giving me a heart to serve him and his people. I thank God for amazing friends that bring joy to my life. I even thank God for the trails that I’ve gone through that have helped me to become who he destined for me to be. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has definitely been worth it. As I look at my future I know without a shadow of a doubt that some amazing things are about to pop off! I mean really. And I’ll be the first to admit that I honestly don’t know how much time I have left to see this stuff happen, but I do know that my legacy will be great! This year is special for me. It means a lot for various reasons, but the main one is because I have aunt that died at 29, almost exactly 3 months after her birthday. I am currently about to embark on a year that she never got to fully explore. The crazy thing is, I remember teasing her on her 29th birthday and telling her that this was the last year she would be able to call my mother old because the next year she would be in her thirties too. Her response was how do you know that I’m going to be here next year. It didn’t really resonate with me in the moment, but 3 months later it made perfect sense. My aunt recognized something at 29 that I didn’t fully get at 17. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to be there for anyone!
What does that mean for me? First of all, it helps me to once again recognize that every day is not promised. Secondly, it lights a fire under my tail to do all that God has for me to do, while I have the chance to do it. Thirdly, it reminds me that life is too short to not have as much joy as possible in it! So today, on the eve of my 29th birthday I commit to the following things in no particular order:

1. Smiling as much as I can, for as long as I can, as hard as I can!
2. Laughing every chance that I get!
3. Crying when I need to regardless of who’s around or what they might say.
4. Doing something each day to let someone know that I love them.
5. Spending time with the people that mean the most to me in the midst of pursuing all that
God has for me
6. Live with reckless abandon for God, leaving fear behind
7. Sharing my gifts with as many people as possible, as often as possible!
8. Loving freely those that will allow me to love them!
9. Learning from the hard lessons so that I don’t have to repeat them
10. Enjoying every moment for what it is worth recognizing that nothing is all bad or all good!
11. Write as often as I can
12. Take every opportunity to share the knowledge that God has given
13. Live freely as me regardless of the judgment that might ensue as a result
14. Travel when the opportunity presents itself
15. Go out when I want to regardless of whether or not someone can or wants to go with me
16. Learning from the mistakes of others because I don’t have time to make them all myself
17. Daily make the choice to love me unconditionally
18. Take every opportunity to encourage those around me
19. Consistently take time to stop and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation!
20. Affirming myself daily
21. Putting pictures in my scrapbook
22. Doing more arts and crafts
23. Listening to different music artists in genres that I enjoy
24. Giving more because every little bit counts
25. Shopping less because I can’t take any of it with me
26. Becoming healthier still
27. Resolving conflict quickly
28. Setting weekly goals
29. Going to bed each night empty of all that God has given me for the day!