Welcome to Our Blog + Birthday Reflections = Blog #1

It just so happens that I am starting this blog on my 25th birthday.  This is purely coincidental.  It definitely snuck up on me, and apparently both of us because plans were made without the recognition that it was, indeed, my birthday.  Such is life.  We are pleased with where we are now, and are eagerly anticipating our future. 

I have spent the last 25 years of my life.  It is gone, I cannot get it back.  I can only commit to make the most of the next 25 years and more.  Do I have regrets?  Sure.  I would have spent more time with people.  I would have gotten to know more people in high school and college.  I would have chosen to not believe lies about my self worth and as a result have better self-esteem.  I would have hugged more and encouraged others more and watched less movies and taken more risks.  I would have saved more money, or rather saved and spent it on other, meaningful things.  I would have read more and listened more and played more.  I would have cried more and expressed more and loved more and judged less and slept less.  I would have called more people and been more on time.  I would spend more time with Jesus and in His Word.  I would have stopped and talked to the Paramore band when we passed them in Lawrence after seeing their show for the first time.  I would have worked harder at the things that mattered.  

So it sounds like I'm about to die, right?  Well, Lord willing, I'm not.  That's the beauty of the previously listed things: I still have time to do all of them in increasing measure.  I can decide that in 25 years from now, I will know I have improved on those things (except the Paramore thing... can't really get that one back...).  I could very well still wish I could have done more of those things (or less of them, depending on the regret), just because most of those you could never have too much of them.  But hopefully I will look back on today and see a point where I started to "get" important things in life.  

Will I have wished I had watched more TV?  Slept more?  Surfed the internet?  Done more things by myself?  Cleaned more?  Purchased and watched more DVDs?  Gotten all the rest I needed and more because it was the most important thing ever?  Been more comfortable?  Focused on myself more?  Avoided trials or just ignored them?  Worked more?  I pray to God that those things never even cross my mind before my head hits the pillow for the last time.  I have been learning a lot from this training system Hans and I have become a part of, and it has opened my eyes to my priorities.  I let a lot of useless things get into my head and heart and time.  (Now where does blogging fit...?  Hopefully it is encouraging someone somewhere... and it helps me process as I am an outward processor...)  I have decided to commit to being as excellent as God lets me be, through his Power.  I can hinder His growth, believe it or not, and have my whole life.  I'm going to keep that to a minimum.  How that goes, I'll keep you informed... 

Blessings,

elly w.