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I celebrate a special birthday this week. As I approach this milestone (hardly believing how many years have passed) I ponder the blessings and challenges of the ensuing years.
Even the challenges include joy and growth and inspiration, so they too would be blessings (perhaps in disguise).
The expression "time flies" is surely a cliché, but it contains much truth. I remember a conversation with my daughter when she was about ten. She commented on how quickly the days passed, and I thought "just wait." Back in the '80s, there was talk about how modern conveniences would make life easier and provide us with more time. The four-day work week was promoted and expected. We wondered what we would do with all those extra hours. And yet, the opposite has become the norm. Work weeks are now extended, and the possibilities for busyness have been greatly amplified.
We rush through our days, exhausted, overburdened and stressed, and we find little time to be thankful for the simple joys and opportunities of each day.
So, this August, I invite you to pause with me. Consider your blessings, big and small. My greatest joys are my grandchildren: a grandson who is my birthday buddy and has shared birthday celebrations eight out of his nine birthdays, a granddaughter who does a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday (she's 5 this year and has been singing to me since she was 3), a grandson who has gone on adventures with me (although he claims we often go to new places because we are actually lost) and a granddaughter who delights in "horsey back" rides.
Thoughtful words, kind gestures, and expressions of understanding can easily be missed, but they offer undergirding blessing. Friendships, old and new, family, near and far, and faith companions on the journey all add to the richness of our lives. The greatest blessing is the loving God Who sent His Son to live and teach, suffer and die to offer forgiveness, reconciliation, and the hope of eternity in His resurrection.
He even offers us a second birthday as He invites us to be born again. John 3:7 states, "You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again'" (NIV).
This week contains a special day and a significant year for me. But any day that we focus more on praise than complaint and thanks rather than ingratitude serves as a starting point to abundant living.
Psalm 118:24 states, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (ESV).
Barb Yorks, First Presbyterian Church, Lewisburg