Birthday
“Age doesn’t define life. It’s about living. When your birthday comes, be grateful for the year that just passed and look forward to the next one with a happy heart.”
Today, I got a fantastic chance to celebrate my 35th birthday. What an awesome life I’ve had so far! I’m lucky to have a great wife who’s been by my side for almost 16 years.
I have four kids, and they’re mostly great. They play a lot, and sometimes they go a bit too far. Honestly, I’m happy they push limits because it means they’ll keep pushing themselves to new levels as they grow older.
I feel lucky to have raised my kids on our family’s homestead. They are the 5th generation growing up here.
My parents back me up, even when they should probably say my ideas are a bit wild.
Our business is doing well. Shameless plug, check us out at www.eclipse-dot.com. We also began a nonprofit to help serve God. Shameless plug for that too, www.godfirstlifenext.org. I genuinely feel blessed in my life.
One early lesson I learned was not to compare myself to anyone but the person I was yesterday.
When I was younger, I always tried to measure up to my older brother. He was 4 years older, and I thought I was just as big as him. I believed I could and should be allowed to do everything he did.
I’m sure he saw me as a bother most days, but he still took time to be with me. He let me join in with his friends, and I began comparing myself to what they were doing.
I always felt like I hadn’t achieved much.
Then, one day, it hit me. How can you compare yourself to anyone? No one has had the same life, so there’s no real way to compare our lives.
Today, I want to encourage everyone to take a good look at their lives. Look closely to see where you’ve succeeded, and look even more closely at your failures to see what you’ve learned.
One big success for me is writing these blogs.
Back in school, I didn’t enjoy reading and certainly didn’t like writing. Now, I write a devotional and a blog every week. If I look back over the past two years, I bet I’ve written a couple of books. Lol.
What used to be a failure is now a success! How cool is that?
Another significant failure in my life was when we were in a lot of debt. At one point, we had maxed out several credit cards, struggled to pay bills, and were just trying to get by.
We weren’t making a lot of money, and it was hard to support our family of six. But my wife and I made a budget and stuck to it. By doing that, we managed to get out of over 35K in debt in less than 2 years.
That might not seem like a lot, but for a family of six living on one income, it’s a huge deal! We learned so much from that experience, and it was amazing.
When we were going through tough times, it was hard to see any hope for the future. There were days I doubted we’d ever say our only debt was a mortgage.
Suddenly, it felt like we could drown quickly. The main idea is that everyone has dealt with challenges.
I’m grateful for the good life we have, and I believe that God will keep blessing us in many ways.
The first 35 years of my life have been great, and I’m excited about many more years to come. I believe they will all be full of blessings.
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