Birthday pondering

Caught in time, living for eternity: that's our reality. Our lives go in seasons, focuses change as we move through various ages and stages of life. Families change, jobs change, kids grow up and new friends are added to our circles while other friends leave.

This week marked another year of life for me, and I've been reflecting a bit. Thanks to facebook, friends from all over the world sent birthday wishes and I was both amazed and humbled. When I consider the spectrum of people who have had an impact in my life, I cannot believe it. People from across the globe, across all ages and stages of life, across many occupatios and interests took time in their day to remember my special day.

This caused me to not only think about the past, but also the future. Right now I am in a realtively new place, opening new relationships with a whole new group of people. (Yeah, our whole family is, but it was just my birthday!) And I was challenged to be both open and intentional: to make room for new people and yet to ask God to give me just the relationships He has for me so I can invest well in those.

Because nearly every day I am reminded that time is limited and there are already a number of things in my life that demand some of it. Sometimes I sit for a moment and stare into space, thinking of all the conversations we can have in eternity when time is unlimited, The vast number of people there are to know in the world, and every generation will be together in eternity, And I can't help but imagine that even in eternity we will be part of one another's journey....

I hope you know how blessed you are to be surrounded by the people in your life, simply because the knowing is such a blessing!