Twenty Years

Today is my twentieth birthday.  I've been thinking about this day with some frequency since last year. A lot of people I know, especially now that we are in a new community, are quite surprised that I'm only twenty. You know, since I've been a wife for over a year and a half and have an almost 10 month old daughter ;). In the past several weeks when they found out I was almost twenty, the reaction was generally a surprised, "It's about time!" But, to be honest, I think it's a little weird. I remember being so excited to turn 10 and be in the double digits, to turn 13 and finally be a teenager. And, now that chapter of life is closing.

When I think back on the last twenty years (the first few of which I don't remember, of course), the thing that stands out to me the most is how fast time goes by. Twenty years ago, I was a newborn babe in my mom's arms. Now, I'm a wife and not so long ago, I held my own newborn for the first time. And I think how different life will be in another twenty years, should the Lord tarry and spare my life. Katie will be a young woman, and I will be middle aged. Lord willing, I will have home schooled at least one child from birth through high school. My childbearing years will be coming to an end if they're not already over, and it won't be long before my children will begin to have children of their own. And then, 20 years after that...I'll be a senior, my children will be approaching middle age, and so on. And then I will probably think back just like I am now and wonder where the time has gone. Twenty years is a really long time when you think of it that way.

Though today has had some extras in it to make it fun (hubby took me out for a delicious breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and we poked around the "big" city some before heading to a friend's house to pick up some hand-me-down furniture), it is still filled with all the typical things--taking care of Katie, some cleaning, etc. But, amidst all the typical-ness, it does sort of stand out in my mind as a significant day. A new beginning of sorts.

The first twenty years of my life have been very blessed. Over all, I have had very little sorrow compared to so many, I have wonderful parents and grandparents, an amazing husband and an oh-so-precious daughter. And, above all that, the Lord graciously saw fit to draw me to Himself. I have no idea what the next twenty years of my life will hold, but I pray that the Lord would make them more productive than the first twenty. I pray He will help me to be a better wife and to raise my sweet daughter well (and with that, I pray He would give us many more children to raise, if He is willing). I pray that He would grant me the wisdom that comes only from more years of following Him. I pray that He would give me grace and thankfulness in the face of the challenges I know He will bring my way. Ultimately, my earnest hope is that He will make me more like Christ and use me as a vessel to advance His Kingdom, for nothing else is more important.