Wednesday, May 21, 2008

On Being 30 and Single

An excerpt from my diary...
I hesitate to share from this portion of my life, because I don't think marital status is what defines one as a person, and too many people in my season of life seem to be all too focused on the opposite sex. I don't want to sound like this is my main focus in life or that I'm getting desperate now. (My God is so much bigger than eharmony.com!) There's more to life than marital status. But, yes, I am human, so I do wonder sometimes about why I'm not married--or even dating. (Or maybe I've been reading too many Christian romance novels.) So allow me a brief post to indulge myself and get it out of my system. When I thought about this part of my life when I was younger, I always pictured myself as being a wife and mother by now (I'd definitely have at least 2 kids by 30, right?), but obviously that wasn't God's plan. Sometimes I wonder if there's something wrong with me, if I'm not good enough, not friendly enough, too solitary, too independent, or whatever.

BUT THEN I work on getting my focus UP--where it needs to be. I believe God has guided me through my decisions this far in my life--college, job in Indiana. I believe I am where God wants me to be, and that's all I need to be focused on. I only want to be married if my husband and I can serve God more effectively together than we could separately, and apparently God's plan for me to serve Him involves my time as a single person. Apparently God has things He wants me to continue to learn in this portion of my life, or He has tasks He wants me to perform. I have so much more freedom now to be a servant at church than I would if I had a spouse or a family. I am enjoying my life where God has put me, and sometimes I wonder if I could be any more happier in life than I already am. I'm okay if God wants me to serve Him singly for the rest of my life. This life on earth is so short anyway--why waste time on trivial earthly matters? And if I can keep my focus on serving God and spending my time in church activities, I won't be sidetracked by the desires of the world. I've always prayed that God would make it extremely obvious to me when the man he wanted for me crossed my path, because I'm not planning to be sidetracked from serving God and working on desiring what God wants for me. Psalm 37:4 "Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Big 3-0

Yup. I've finally reached a new decade. I had a great day, starting with Saturday when I received 4 birthday cards in the mail!! Pretty good timing, guys! Sunday morning a quartet of girls sang very loudly to me in the hallway before church. Another friend from church came up to me at the piano after church and handed me a card and gift. Then there were the random birthday wishes from random people (thanks in part to Facebook for spreading the birthday word)! I had a piano recital that afternoon, and toward the end, before they played their duet, two sisters had everyone sing to me, so I had more birthday wishes. And after church that night Sarah and I walked to Dairy Queen and I got a Strawberry Cheesequake blizzard. Yummy! I just had a smile on my face all day. I love birthdays!! (Even if it does mean that you're getting old...)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Landscaping Pics

Here's some pics of the new mulching I did on Saturday and the Common Purple Lilac bush!




Juju and my blooming apple tree in the backyard--and the grass she's killed! :)



The digging and raking I did on Saturday gave me a big blister on my hand that's given me a little bit of grief the last couple of days. I'll be glad to be able to reach an octave again without the pain of stretching my right hand!

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Star Wars and Gardening

It was a crazy week--with a Preschool program Thursday night and 2 programs Friday night--K5-3rd and 4th-6th back-to-back. I got to direct the Preschool program and play the piano for the other two--as well as make PowerPoint Programs for all three. Of course, I'm really good at waiting until the last minute to get these things done! ;) And we had rehearsals all week for all of them, too, so my teaching schedule was all messed up. And throw in accompanying a violin recital Tuesday night and a couple of extra hours Thursday morning for the National Day of Prayer breakfast. All good activities, but kind of crazy when it all happens in one week.

So what got me through the week was looking forward to the weekend--today--because I could work in my yard. I finally got the lawn mowed and even some flowers planted. When I got stressed during the week I would start to plan some new landscaping, and nothing could stop me from working in the yard today--not even cooling temperatures and the threat of rain. Thankfully it never did actually rain so I spent a good solid 5 hours straight doing some new landscaping.

I've also been enjoying watching the first 3 Star Wars episodes again. I've only seen them once before, and this time I'm enjoying them a lot more. I finished "Attack of the Clones" at the beginning of the week and today the library had in "Revenge of the Sith" so I'm looking forward to watching that soon!

Only 3 more weeks until school's out!