On Turning 20

(Just as a side note, I think I get exceedingly boring when it comes to my post title choices. But, really, what can I say? This is a post about turning twenty.)

I'm sitting here, writing a superfluous blog post, when I should be doing other writing, but I've decided to throw caution to the wind. It's my birthday today, after all.

It's been a good week-end. Six children sang to me, over a teddy bear cake on Friday. Greek food was et on Saturday. I was toasted with beer and wine on Sunday, and got special birthday phone calls on Monday. I know it's rather a tired, old sentiment, but really the best gifts aren't the ones you can see, feel, or (yum) taste, though I must say I'm pretty delighted with the presents I received as well. It's the friends, the new and old and unexpected. It's the prayers, and benedictions of well-wishing. I guess it's the love.

And speaking of tired and old, that's the way I've been feeling lately. I've found myself thinking many times during these last few weeks, "Am I really only turning twenty?" It seems like I've been living for so much longer than that. And, I know...Anyone who is anything older than twenty-one is thinking, "PATHETIC!" But, I'm being honest, here. This is "real life" for me.

This past week was a rather hard one - it seems like God was teaching me what it is to be humbled and say "I'm sorry" - to make mistakes and recognize my sin in jarring technicolour. I was thinking about these things when I went on a walk, today in the part rain and cloud, when I just happened to look over my shoulder and gasped. There was a rainbow, arching in the sky above me. I could see it from end to end.

It whispered "Happy Birthday" to me and I thanked God.

But, that's not all. As I stood and looked at the rainbow with something reaching awe in my heart, I glimpsed through the clouds a second rainbow. A double rainbow....

Not just enough to get us by. Lavish gifts.

In just a few seconds, they were both gone.

Life is a gift. And, like every good gift, it's a sequence of total surprises. In the friends I've made, the places I've found myself, the little things that brighten my days - it's often the most unexpected that become the dearest.

I've always admired the people who can make and keep resolutions. It's not that I don't have the willpower to stay with something. It's just that I can never decide what the resolution should be. But, walking home today, I had a glimpse of what I might just want my life to be like in the next year: Open-palmed. Taking what comes without fear -  with even eager anticipation. Life is too short for anything less than that. Whether it's a rainbow, or a rain cloud just over your shoulder God can turn it into a gift with a bow on the top for extra good measure.

- Millie