Ever-Praise: A Birthday Song

Psalm 71:5-6  

For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD,

my confidence since my youth.

From birth I have relied on you, 

you brought me forth from my mother's womb.  

I will ever praise You.

Today I am 68.  

What a gift!  

And while it's true that more recently 'my doctors find me ever so much more interesting' (thank you Parker Palmer), the positives far outweigh the negatives for me at this point.  Without minimizing some of the challenges that any of us Boomers might be facing these days, I find myself approaching this birthday with hope and optimism and delight.

So, in the spirit of "I will ever praise You," I offer a 68th birthday song, in the form of a list of sorts.

Things I love about this era of my life that I could not say were true or even possible for my younger self:

• The richness of life-long relationships.
• The happy surprises inherent in new friendships.
• Having friends in every age-bracket, different cultures, and with a wide variety of philosophical, political, and religious views.
• The depth of a long, long love (47 years this August).
• Seeing my adult children engage meaningfully in their lives, and how honest they've been in the face of their sorrows.
• The indescribable joy of grandchildren.
• The wonder of also being an adopted Gramma to so many more of them!
• Less tethered to geography; more tied to people.
• Finding that work-life sweet spot of doing what you love.
• All that there is left to learn!
• What comes around has gone around a few times before, so there's less to fret about.
• Being better friends with my body.
• By now I know so many songs!
• Finding out that sunrises and sunsets never get old.
• The freedom to simplify.
• Not as afraid of bees and spiders (or creepy things in general).
• More aware of and less threatened by being wrong.
• More able to self-advocate without losing my cool.
• I've had enough time to practice it, so there's more gratitude and less complaining, which is such a nicer, lighter thing to carry around.
• With nothing left to prove, I'm more free to become myself.
• The faithful presence of God is more real even as it becomes more mystical, and I love Him more and more because of it.

And oh the list could be longer, but I'll leave it at that for now.

On to all the delightful traditions of a cottage birthday.

And yes, there'll be cake.  Of course there'll be cake!