39 Things I've Learned

Today is my 39th birthday . . . my last year being in the 30s. Kinda creepy and very unreal. So, as I went to bed on my last eve of 38-hood, I began to ponder: What have I learned in 39 years? Well, I couldn't list them all, so decided that 39 would be an appropriate number.

In no particular order:

1. Laugh as often as possible.

2. People's lives are messy, no matter how they look on the outside.

3. I prefer Diet Pepsi over Diet Coke.

4. I will never figure out the mysteries of Christ, and that is a huge relief.

5. Parenting is so much harder than the books imply. No kid has ever read those books.

6. A good haircut is worth the money.

7. "I'm sorry" are the two hardest words to say in the English language, followed by "I was wrong." Yet, when said, they have amazing powers of transformation.

8. The right clothes make all the difference in confidence and self-assuredness.

9. We value what we have worked for and own.

10. God is good.

11. Life is not so much about happiness as it is about holiness.

12. Death is a certainty, yet we're all surprised--and even angry--when it happens.

13. I prefer cats over dogs.

14. There are no denominations in the Body of Christ.

15. Chocolate is God's gift to mankind.

16. Every good thing comes from God, but humans have an uncanny ability to distort every good thing.

17. It is so much easier to fix other people's problems than my own.

18. Football is a game only men can understand.

19. Women cannot do everything men can do, and I am grateful for that.

20. God is infinitely creative. Our faces alone testify to it; they're all made of the same components placed in the same position, but yet no two people look exactly alike. Amazing.

21. God made each person with different talents and passions, and that's what makes the world work.

22. People different from me are just different; not better or inferior.

23. Americans are exceedingly spoiled and have confused the difference between a privilege and a right.

24. Life is unfair. Completely.

25. Difficulties are assured to all of us, but we still complain and whine when they come our way.

26. Grace is much easier to receive than to give.

27. We were created for Eden, not for this world, and we are yearning everyday for the world we were created for.

28. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have the right solutions. They both want our money and our freedoms, just in different ways.

29. I hate rainy days.

30. I'm an introvert. I like being around friends, but I am drained by social occasions.

31. America is not a democracy. Our founders were exceedingly wise, for which I am very grateful, but we've come very far from the government they established.

32. There are absolute truths.

33. The Brady Bunch was better than the Partridge Family, and Little House on the Prairie was better than the Waltons. They just don't make TV like they used to.

34. We don't choose our memories. But can choose what to do with them.

35. Momma bears and Momma humans are not that different from each other: they both have claws that they'll use violently on anyone who threatens their cubs.

36. Birds of a feather do flock together, and finding one or two kindred spirits in life is a treasure.

37. I can depend on my husband.

38. A dirty fist full of flowers is more beautiful than the best-designed garden.

39. 40 is not nearly as old as it used to be.