I shared this blog on my famliy blog, but it touches some on my walk with God so I thought I’d re-post it here as well.
Today I celebrate my forty-third birthday! I was going to dazzle everyone with this post. It was going to be so insightful, with 43 things I have learned over the years. I have been planning this post for a few days trying to think of cute and witty things to share. Try as I may though all I could come up with are just a few simple things, things that have been passed down for years, even centuries, just reworded over the various decades.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself: Jesus gives us this in the New Testament, Rabbi Hillel said something similar 50 years earlier “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” The idea of karma and “what goes around comes around” , these thoughts all take you back to the same common lesson and probably one of the best things I could say I’ve learned. Just plain and simple be nice! Or as five-year-old Fallon told me earlier this week “Mom, you just have to be nice to people and then they will be nice to you. And if not, then you still should be nice to them.” Wisdom of the ages.
Take time to smell the flowers: This is one has been around for a long time too. It seems it is always the older person who tries to impart this wisdom on the young. Having my children so far apart I realize how fast the time goes. One day they are waking you up with hand-drawn birthday cards for your birthday, so excited for you and your “big day”, the next they are calling you from a different time zone to say a quick “Happy Birthday” while they fit you into their busy schedule. How fast the tide shifts! I have and am constantly learning to enjoy every moment that I am given to spend with those I love.
Believe and have faith in something: On this I choose Jesus. I know that others have other beliefs, but for me the one thing that has sustained me thru the hard and difficult times is my faith in God. If not for that faith I don’t know how I would have made it thru some of lifes more complicated journeys. I also have had a family to help me thru those times as well. So I guess along with this thought would be to find someone to walk with you thru this journey of life. My most cherished companion on my journey would be my husband, Jeff. You may switch hands that you hold along the way, but find a hand to hold. Which brings me back to how I started this thought – my faith in God. I thank Him for the times He has been the one to walk with me and for the human hands He has given me along the path.
That’s it. Those few things. Oh sure, there are many more and if you go to Amazon I am sure you can find books and books on such wisdom. Everything from deep thought to cute and whimsical. I keep one on my desk, 14,000 things to be happy about, to help remind me when I get caught up in the whirlpool of life. But, if I were to sum it all up, I would have to say that what I have learned is be kind, “catch more flies with honey…”, share your life with someone ~ friends or family, and have something in which you believe. Finally, enjoy the moments you are given, as you get older you realize, all to well, that it only lasts a lifetime.
I use to think that the age “forty-three” sounded so old, with age and wisdom I now know how young it really is!
So today I am enjoying the well wishes of friends and family and enjoying the day with the loved ones who are here to share it with me!
Journeys 