41....and Changing the World

OK Dear Friends...Permit me a slight bit of nostalgia.  My birthday is next Monday.  I will officially be on the back side of 40....that sounds horrid.  You know what I mean though...I will be 41.

It's difficult to think of myself as 41.  Isn't that supposed to be an age when someone is officially an adult?  Surely not!  I still believe that one of my missions in life is to bring back pig tails.  My all time hero is Mr. Rogers and my favorite treat is marshmallows in my oatmeal.  There is no way this is the behavior of an official adult.  Sigh....

I remember as a child thinking I would change the world.  I envisioned myself in a high power business suit and heels strutting around an office with a briefcase and a kick butt death glare ready to eradicate all who thought to thwart my path.  But that's not me.  Never has been.  I found a path that suited me more.  I found out a different way to change the world.

I love.

I encourage.

I teach.

I change the world.

God has granted me the opportunity to minister first to my husband and my children.  I get to cheer them on, encourage their strengths, and support their journeys.  I get to teach my children how to love, how to look for the needs of others, how to encourage and help those around them, how to share burdens, how to distinguish what is really important from what society says is essential.  I get to help fashion these amazing people that God put in my care.  I get to encourage their spirits and help form them into the glorious creations God made them to be.  I get to change the world.

God has granted me the opportunity to minister to friends I know and friends I have not yet made. God gave me a hunger to encourage and to support.  I have had the privilege of providing a smile and a few words to let tired and fed up people know they are making a difference.  It sounds so negligible to the rest of the world, but I have seen the difference a sincere smile, a hug and an open heart can make.  It can change a person.  It can change the world.

I ditched the idea of heels, hose and a power suit a long time ago.  I feel much more comfortable in jeans and a tee shirt.  Birkenstocks are a lot more comfortable than heels.  I think the world could do without my contribution as a titan.  I hope I have made a bigger difference with love.

My goal for the next 41 years...use the gifts of love and encouragement that God has given me to share...and yeah....make pig tails trendy ;)!