The Gift of Another Year

Soon yours truly will begin another orbit around the sun, with the help of our planet.  Birthdays are typically a point of reflection for me, a chance to evaluate where I’ve been and where I’m headed, amidst taking time to celebrate.  This year I find myself thinking less about the specifics — the good, bad, and complicated aspects of life — and more about the encompassing, simple truth that it is pure gift to be alive. 

It’s understandable at times when people complain about aging or vent about difficult experiences in life.  There are hardships of all kinds, no question.  Yet I tend to think of the “wear and tear” of existing like the lyrics of a song by the Indigo Girls, “Get Out the Map.”  It says, “With every lesson learned, a line upon your beautiful face.”  Laugh lines and crows feet just reflect the miles walked, the wisdom gathered, and the joy embraced.  Each wrinkle, each gray hair, each area of collagen loss, simply means you're one of the lucky ones to have reached this point. 

I intend to be a centenarian someday, decades from now, God-willing, but I know that to simply be alive today is grace in real time.  And I am reminded that, whatever the experience, to get the gift of another year, another moment actually, is nothing to take for granted.  I am grateful. 

May you be inspired!

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