Well, let’s see. This weekend was fairly uneventful. We went to movie night at our church on Friday night and then Saturday Caroline went swimming with some friends and then she and P went to the ranch. I went to Banana Republic and found a cute top on sale for $15.00 (It really was $15.00. I know I say that all the time, but this time it’s the truth. I’m like the clotheshorse who cried wolf.) and then picked up veggie tacos and watched a movie. Oh, and I turned forty yesterday.
And woke up having a hot flash and had to pluck three gray hairs out of my head before I left for church.
Then I got home from church, checked my email and had an e-card from my dermatologist.
Offering me $50 off Botox treatments.
Perfect.
But, honestly, I’m okay with forty. Yes I have some gray hair and, sure, my metabolism seems to have picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, but I’m happy with where I am right now. The thirties were all about settling into married life, becoming a mother, learning how to get the smell of rotten sippy cup out of my car, and trading in corporate life to be a homeroom mom. They were about finding my way and getting used to being called “ma’am”.
So I guess the forties will be about helping Caroline through her pre-teen and teenage years, following where God leads, taking multiple vitamin supplements in an attempt to hold back the hands of time and getting reacquainted with Jillian Michaels and The Shred. A friend of mine, who is in her forties and very wise, says the forties are like a crossing over for a woman. It’s a new beginning of sorts.
I choose to believe that.
A few weeks ago I read a quote by Max Lucado that I’d never read before. “The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.”
I feel like when I turned thirty I’d accepted God’s mercy and was so grateful that he’d saved me from myself and a steady stream of bad decisions.
But yesterday, as I spent some time by myself and thought about all my thirties have brought me, I realized it was the decade God showed me what grace really looks like.
Because when I look at life, even with all the ups and downs and good and bad and things that haven’t turned out the way I wanted, I realize he has blessed me with so much more than I could have imagined. My friends, my family, P and my baby girl.
He has given me a feast.