30 Life Lessons

It finally happened. I grew up.

Yep, I turned 30 on April 1st...I guess at some point I should start feeling like a grown woman who is a wife and mother of 3 boys...BUT I still feel like I should be 18. Not that I want to be 18...oh, no! I just can't believe how quickly 30 years has gone by. Amazing...

I remember being a young girl and feeling like it took FOREVER just waiting for evening to come so I could spend the night with my bff who lived down the street. I guess all those silly boys who wrote in my Jr. High yearbook were right after all, "life is like a roll of toilet paper"...the older you get the faster it goes!

Here are 30 things I've been learning the last 30 years of my life:

1) I never stop learning and it's not always new things! I keep re-learning many of the same things over and over and over again...just on a deeper level with greater revelation.

2) If you can be patient potty-training a toddler, you can be patient during ANYTHING!

3) I was made to be in community and need to ask for help more often.

4) People can't read my mind. (shocking, right?)

5) I can't read other peoples minds. (even more shocking!)

6) The things I am TOO tired to do are probably the things that will energize me the most.

7) The things I have judged, I will serve. (stole this from Pastor Jimmy...but i am FEELIN' it! and am thankful for the stretching, humbling growth).

8) I don't have to completely understand or relate to someone to be able to love and serve them well. This frees me up to be myself and not feel pressure to try be like everyone else.

9) I need a Savior more than I know.

10) Thankfulness paves the way for the Holy Spirit to come and break my spiral into a bad, grumpy, self-focused day.

11) I have to rely on God...trying harder doesn't cut it and makes me tired.

12) I can hear God's voice!! =)

13) I shouldn't always do for my boys the things they can do themselves (even if I think I can do it faster and better).

14) I don't have to be doing something "spiritual" to experience God's presense.
15) Sometimes, there's nothin' to it but to do it! I've got to dig down and just do the things I hate or don't want to do and one small step after another and suddenly I'm done!

16) It is easy to be nasty to others...to come up with something sassy or down-right evil to say. It takes deep character and self-control to chose my words and live out of a place of love.

17) My default to sarcasm is sometimes funny. But usually not. (sorry to those of you who I've been learning this on over the years.)

18) I have an ever increasing capacity! Things I thought would have been impossible are now totally doable! God is always growing me...sometimes in small bits that go unnoticed and sometimes in big stretches that are quite painful. I'm looking back with thankfulness that I have greater capacity in knowledge, understanding and energy because of those times of expansion.

19) My husband needs my respect, more than he needs my love.

20) Choose Joy. I mean REAL joy...not fleeting pleasures that this world offers up.

21) This world is not my home. I shouldn't feel or get TOO comfortable. Ofcourse, I SHOULD seem a bit out of place to others because I AM out of place.

22) Lots of small "yeses" can turn into a really big "YES!"

23) Caring for others is annoying when all I care about is myself. When I take my eyes off myself, then suddenly taking care of others becomes an awesome privledge, an amazing responsibility and an overwhelming joy.

24) Peace can be enjoyed anytime and anywhere as a direct result of being in fellowship with the Spirit. I don't always have to have the perfect setup to find peace.

25) Thinking ahead keeps me out of trouble. Not thinking ahead leads to lots of "doh!" moments.

26) The more my family acquires, the less thankful we become.

27) I need less stuff than I think I do.

28) Assume the best of others but don't presume that others should do the same for me. I want to live in such a way that it is easy for others to think the best of me because of my past actions.

29) I don't remember as much as I think I will. I really do need to jot important things down. Mom, I guess you were right about writing after all!

30) Strenght is made perfect in weakness. Thanks for all the paradoxes, God. I love how you like to spice things up!