Well, It’s official. I am now 24 years old, and boy was it a fun birthday! My coworkers made me the best Birthday cake I could ask for, my sister and I went on a very successful shopping trip (see above leather jacket which she and the sales associate convinced me was a WARDROBE STAPLE), and Jesse and I spent over an hour figuring out how to use the new espresso machine I received as a gift!
We’ll take two breve lattes for here, please.
And last but not least, my brother-in-law gave me unicorn narwhal socks, which are also a wardrobe staple for all the cool kids in Bellingham.
A fight for the ages!
Part of me wishes my birthday didn’t have to end. There was something special as we all sat in my living room with smiles on our faces, full of La Fiamma woodfire pizza and Chocolate Bliss cake with wrapping paper strewn across the room that reminded me that the best part of a birthday celebration is being with the people you love. Face-timing my Dad and getting a video of him singing happy birthday with a full harmonica solo. Voicemails and texts from family and friends. Laughings with Davielle after we drove past an over-turned semi (no injuries) carrying over 45,000 pounds of bananas. Hey, when life gives you bananas on your birthday, make banana splits.
On a more serious note, that you made still find appealing (see what I did there?), this verse has given me renewed hope this week.
…Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1st Corinithians 13:13
You know, as a kid I always thought that birthdays were the best because it was a whole day dedicated to “ME FIRST” but as I read over 1st Corinthians chapter 13 this last week, and as I was falling asleep last night, I realized that love, real love, doesn’t operate in that reality. Love cares more for others than for itself. And the person at the center of a birthday is the most fun to be around when they share the celebration instead of hoarding it. I have been known to be a birthday queen, but I hope that my reign in future years will be a benevolent one where others get caught up in the fun rather than feeling like oppressed peasants.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t revel when other grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1st Corinthians 3b-7
May you be able to look for the best this week.
-Katrina