I have never dreaded age milestones, because my mother always made age look like a beautiful achievement, and each year she has grown in grace, style, and a fuller living out of who God made her to be. All my life I’ve wanted to grow up to be like her. This month I’ll be a little closer to that goal as I celebrate my 3oth birt
hday. I can’t really tell you how excited I am about this.
I decided such a big number was worthy of a big celebration–a whole month’s worth of celebrations! So this month on the blog, I’m going to share with you what I’m celebrating at 30 – things that make me glad to be this old. 🙂
Today I’m celebrating Life Events. (You know, those things in your facebook timeline that are more significant than the average photo or status?☺) I had these thoughts as I woke from a night of too-little sleep, and raced downstairs to jot them down before the kids began to demand breakfast. Writing is my coffee. ☺
Celebrating ‘Landiversary’
Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the biggest event of my life–it was the day my family moved to the homestead. We used used to celebrate this day with a ‘Landiversary’ Dinner and reading from our journals kept during the tipi days.
One would argue that marriage or having children seem like larger, more significant events. But these things, though big and life-altering, are natural and expected changes.
Moving to the homestead was very un-natural. It was going backward, it was choosing the hard way instead of the easy, and it was an event that was sometimes hard to celebrate when we looked back. It was also something I had no control over.
Yet it is those hard moments, those seemingly negative Life Events that most define us. It is those circumstances that rub against our grain that make us who we are. That’s what so many good memoirs are made of–the telling of a hard life event and how we came to celebrate it. The key is allowing God to fill those rough spots with grace (<–Tweet this!)– that is how they are redeemed and become something we WANT to remember.
And that’s why I celebrate, write about, and treasure the memories of the homestead, painful as so many are. Because they are why I’m Me, how I got to Here, and what gave me a Life that I love.
Is there a rough spot or a hard moment in your past that has actually had positive impact on your life? I’d love to hear about it! Let’s celebrate together…
Trina,
happy 30, i have been a reader for a couple months now.
I just wanted to tell you i made the leap to 30 last month.. ugh… but the night before my hubby mad a fire, got some wine and s’mores… it was the perfect way to say goodbye to the 20’s they were all so good, totally a blessing.. but i realized if my 20’s were as good as they were (with some ultimate low points) then GOD can do infinitely more in my 30s! So welcome to the club! the 30’s are great, i can say from almost a month in to them! ; )
Blessings to you!
Thanks, Bobbi!
It is most definitely those life defining moments that make us who we are. I could write a book about how the hardest years of my life shaped me and gave me the life I now have…actually, I think I have lol my blog 🙂
Jess – Yes! keep blogging! 🙂
I love your approach to birthdays! Our society seems to have a dreadful tendency to see aging as something bad, whereas in reality, each year brings us (hopefully) closer to God and provides us with fantastic opportunities…
As for hard times bringing positive impacts, I would definitely say the seven months I spent being unemployed after finishing college were a blessing in disguise. My parents were struggling with health and overwork issues, which I would not have been fully aware of had I not been living at home. As it was, I was able to provide relief in terms of housework and cooking and learnt valuable lessons about running a home (and just how much my mother has always done for us…).
At the end of it all, the Lord provided me with a perfect job I’d never even dreamed of which allows me to be a SAHM and still contribute to the household finances – He has been so gracious!
Catherjin, Thanks for sharing your story. I love the testimony that you are reaping what you sowed during that rough spot. Love it.
This idea is absolutely delicious sounding. I call these kinds of things my Ebenezers, and I never get tired of reading these snips from other’s hearts and lives. Looking forward to your 30 things! 🙂
I think I’ve had a lot of hard things turned blessing. The breaking off of a 3 + year relationship, which not only taught me a lot about my self, but brought me so much closer to God as I clung to Him to make the pain be for a purpose. Now, though it is definitely not the only reason I went through what I did, I am blessed to be able to encourage girls who are facing similar pains and to be a friend to them like I could never have been before, because now I know what it is like.
Another one that is very fresh in my mind is the way that the unemployed years taught me (are teaching me?) so much about relying on God for every simple little need. It taught me that He has no limit to the ways that He can provide and showed me love in so many different ways.
It’s been good. 🙂
Well, Chantel, I don’t know if I will have 30 posts on the subject, but I do have a lot to celebrate. 🙂
Thank you for sharing one of your hard spots, and I can see the grace you are embracing for the current one. It will work beauty in your life – you are so right. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂