Only the beginning

Now that my 26^th year of life has started, I’m tempted to sit back and take pride in the things I’ve accomplished in my years.

But I won’t.

How can I take credit for things that were gifts? God has given me talents, blessings and wonderful people to guide me — it’s thanks to these things and to His grace that I am who I am today.  

As I celebrate another birthday, I’m thankful for the years I have lived. I’m learning from past mistakes and I’m thankful for the perspective they bring. I’m not a perfect person and I never will be. But more and more each year, I’m learning to regard each person as a treasured child of God.

It changes everything.

•••

My daughter will celebrate her first birthday in a little under a month. Each day, she’s reminding me that up to now, parenting has been easy. Now that she’s mobile, she has the ability to act outside my wishes. The hard part is just beginning …

And as she grows up, it will be the Captain’s and my responsibility to shape her into a responsible, independent and thoughtful person.

No small order, that.

•••

We never really finish growing up. We learn more about ourselves every year. For instance, I never thought I’d love being a mother. I was so very wrong.

So that’s why, on the 26^th anniversary of my birth, I’m not resting on my laurels.

This is only the beginning.