All the Beauty

 

            Thank you all so much for the birthday greetings and wishes that came my way yesterday. It was a sweet day of celebration, and I look forward to telling you more about it! (And didn’t Ryan do a great job on his guest post?)

            Ryan asked me over the weekend what my favorite thing was from the last, well, lifetime I’d lived. It was a big question with an impossible answer. How do you even pick one thing from a lifetime of goodness?

            Then I decided even that dilemma was a gift.

            Thank You, Lord, for the beauty You have placed in my life for over four decades. Thank You for friends, for beautiful scenery, for books and songs. Thank You for this life I share with Ryan and puppy kisses. Thank You for a cat that has been with me almost half my life and sunsets that never disappoint.

            Thank You for places I’ve been able to travel to see and for the gift of staying home and resting after hard days of work. Thank You for thinking to make vivid colors and delicious flavors and so much beauty in this world.

            Thank You for hard times that pushed me to lean on You. Thank You for carrying me when I couldn’t walk another step. Thank You for providing for every need and offering the blessings of extra gifts I didn’t truly need – but You knew they would make me smile anyway.

            Thank You for each day You have entrusted to me. Thank You for dreaming up my life at all.

            These 45 years have not all been easy, and not every moment has been happy, but each year has been a gift. And certainly far more of my years have been a joy than the ones that have been hard. Thanks, Lord, for all You’ve allowed me to experience!