Since it’s been almost a week since I posted on the blog, I just wanted to share some thoughts – and hopefully some encouragement – today.
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the national fine arts competition for the first time! My girls’ school won first place in band! Here’s a video of one of the songs they performed. (My 16-year-old is on the left in the back row. She plays percussion, and is on the cymbals for much of this song. My 14-year-old plays the tenor saxophone, and you have no hope of seeing her as she’s seated directly in front of the director!)
Friday was my birthday. I purposely had no expectations. I knew it was going to be a regular day, filled with errands of all sorts, and generally catching up from being out-of-town the last few days. And it was a perfect day. Why? Because I chose to celebrate the little things.
~ an early morning “happy birthday” text from my older daughter, who was in the midst of packing up to leave the college campus where she’d stayed for the competition
~ a nice morning walk
~ a Starbucks drink and a good podcast while I ran errands
A coconutmilk mocha macchiato
~ a totally unexpected birthday card from this sweet friend and blog reader
~ family time shooting baskets on the new basketball hoop in our backyard
~ many precious birthday wishes from family and friends
~ our family back together under one roof Friday night
And then I cried a little…I was listening to an episode of the Family Life Today podcast in the car on the way to get my girls from school. The hosts were talking specifically to parents of seniors in high school. Now my daughter’s only a high school sophomore. Yet knowing how fast the last two years of high school have gone, I feel like she’ll be a senior in the blink of an eye.
If you’d like to know what brought tears to my eyes, here’s a link to Preparing Your Teen for the Future. Around the 14-minute mark, Dennis and Barbara Rainey talk about a poem that was read during a special graduation service at their church. Below the podcast episode, you’ll see a graphic you can click to download and read “With These Hands.” While the poem is good on its own, hearing the Raineys read it aloud just about did me in!
I’ve read blog posts before about how someone does random acts of kindness for other people on their birthday. I think that’s a great idea, and maybe one that I’ll try someday! But this year, I chose to focus on the ordinariness of the day, the health I’ve been blessed with, and that I get to do all the little normal, every day tasks that I so often take for granted. God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.
And finally, I think I’ve gotten a little perspective lately from a chapter on time in Ann Voskamp’s book The Broken Way. She says,
“We all get one container of time – but no one gets to know what size that container is…Take your one container of time and believe it contains exactly the time you need for a meaningful life.”
And then there’s this…
“Your time is limited – so don’t limit your life by wanting someone else’s.”
And maybe the best of all…
“You have only one decision every day: how will you use your time?“
Time is a resource that we can never get more of. I show who and what I love by the way that I spend that time. May we challenge ourselves to make the most of today and of every day we’re given!
What a lovely performance! Thanks for sharing it!
My birthday is coming up, too, and I plan to be happy with the little things. I did, however, order myself a cake. I want a birthday cake, but I don’t want to bake it myself. 🙂 When my oldest daughter gets better at baking, hopefully, she will bake one for me.
I love Voskamp’s perspective on time: a great reminder to use our time wisely.
Yes, I believe our birthdays are exactly a week apart!! I’m glad you ordered yourself a birthday cake, and I hope you enjoy it!
Sometimes in the past, I’ve had secret expectations for my birthday, then been disappointed if they weren’t met….which makes no sense since no one knew about them!! I was determined not to do that this year, but to be grateful for the day itself and whatever it brought – and that perspective worked out much better. 🙂
Early happy birthday!! 😉
Omigosh – you were right re: our kids always getting trapped behind their directors in performance videos!!! 😀 😛 But BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I will purpose to adopt your birthday mindset this year! (I have until July to prep my heart. ;-)) I’m always disappointed when there’s no fuss, so I need to manage my expectations & focus on all of the simple gratitudes of the day/week.
Yes – I purposely adopted that “birthday mindset” for the same reason!! As I mentioned in my reply to Nikki’s comment, some years I’ve set these secret expectations, then was disappointed when no one met them. I was much happier this year, when I purposed to be grateful for the little, everyday blessings (though I do hope you get a little “fuss” on your birthday!!! 😉
Tracey, this is getting downright freaky…in a good way! More fuel for the kindred-spirit status I feel with you: 1)I knew we were both music moms but didn’t know we were both percussionist moms! How fun is that?! And CONGRATULATIONS to your girls! First place…WOW! My 13-year-old plays percussion (motto: “we aren’t just drummers and we don’t just hit things”) and loves it. When we need tambourine in worship team at church, she stands next to me while I play the congas and and I makes me 100% mom happy. 🙂 And 2)we are both April birthdays! Mine is next week, and (you will appreciate this), I am celebrating by going to a band boosters’ meeting. Happy belated birthday, lovely lady. May the year ahead overflow with joys for you…both those you expect and those you don’t.
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes – and I love that last line you wrote!! An early happy birthday to you – and may those same expected and unexpected joys fill your year ahead! A band boosters’ meeting sounds like a perfect place to celebrate 😉
Love that you and your daughter worship together in the percussion section! I never thought my 16-year-old would take up percussion; this is her first year in band, but she thoroughly enjoys it – especially the cymbals. She said the other night that she thinks she’s built up her arm muscles over the last few months by clanging those heavy things together 😉