April's Birthday Blessings

Sorry, I missed last month's postings here. I was happily busy getting my covid vaccines. Not because I suffered any real side effects from the shots. (Just had a slight fever the second day after my second dose.)

But I was thrilled thinking about, planning for, and implementing what I would do for my 70th birthday in April! Most of you would think my mildly tame plans would not constitute much of a hoopla event, but trust me, after a year's isolation, trying my best to stay at home as much as possible, it felt like a gigantic step into the real world again. Zoom and Facebook, I love you, but you are just substitutes for live human beings. I'd almost forgotten what being in someone's actual presence felt like.

So here's what I've been doing in the real world this month of April.

• I went to Walmart...twice!
• Kayla's family came over for dinner the weekend before my birthday. We were all in the same room without masks for the whole meal. Felt oddly satisfying, to say the least, when you haven't done it for months on end.
• On my actual birthday, I invited two vaccinated friends of mine over to enjoy a haystack dinner. Forgot how much I had missed haystacks, let alone eating them in person with my wonderful friends!
• Two days later, I was treated to a delightful take-out lunch here at home with my favorite editor, Brenda. Couldn't remember when I had had "real" pizza like that. Was especially good to catch up on our families and just enjoy some facetime fellowship.
• Then, one more breakout event really provided icing on the cake. I attended my granddaughters' school program (small, private school, mind you--just a handful of students). It was tremendous to see them on stage and hear them sing solos (which were excellent, by the way). Their play was truly inspirational, as acted out by the entire student body wearing face shields.

One never knows what the next day or month will bring. But if there's one thing I've learned from this pandemic, it's to enjoy one day at a time. The future has enough problems in it to overwhelm us if we let it, and the past is over with and can't be changed.

By embracing God, however, we have our present (He'll provide our needs, if we ask Him to), our past (He's forgiven it, if we're sorry for it), and our future (He's promised to be there too, if we follow Him). That's why He's the Great I AM. And why I am happy to be His child.

Here was the "icing on my birthday cake"!