Half Birthday

Today is my half birthday. This means that in exactly six months I'll be thirty years old. I find myself looking forward to thirty, but not in quite the same way that I've anticipated other birthdays. There is, of course, the excitement as a new year approaches, but there is too,  a sense of peace that whispers to me that my thirties will be just fine.

Like most people, my twenties have been turbulent. I've finished college and grad school, transitioned from being a student to being an employee, lived in three different states in the US. My friendships have changed too: I've made new friends and parted ways with some old ones; and of course I've had friends that have been with me through it all. At the start of my twenties all of my friends were students, all of us trying to work our way through early adulthood, today my friends are students and teachers and wives and mothers and professors and educators and business professionals and writers and dancers and so much more. As we've gone down different paths I've been constantly reminded that there's more: more people to love,  more opportunities to take, more places to go.

My twenties have shaped me into the woman I am, and helped me determine who is the woman that I want to be. They have been filled with music and prayer and dancing and reading and writing. As thirty approaches I know these things to be true in my life:

1. Community in the body of Christ is imperative. I do not want to live life without being connected to, and serving in a church.

2. Prayer is important, and God is faithful to answer our prayers. I want to be a woman who prays consistently, in every season of life, not just the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

3. Fear of failing is not a good enough reason for not trying. I've been disappointed quite a bit over this decade, about things for which I've been most hopeful, but I've been the most upset about the things that I never tried because I was too scared.
"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Phil 4:12-13)

4. I want to write. I've always wanted to write. I've been unknowingly creating opportunities for myself to write since forever. I will always want to write. I want to write as a major part of my job (which I do, currently). I want to write a book. And then another book. And then more books. I understand Jeremiah's feeling of having fire shut up in his bones.

5. There's nothing more encouraging than having friends and family and mentors who believe in you, especially on those days where you don't even dare to believe in yourself.

I'm thankful for the crazy turbulence of my twenties, and I look forward to seeing what the last six months of this decade will bring. Thirties, I'm looking forward to meeting you in six months!

Be blessed and shine through it all!