On Another Birthday

It didn't start off as a great day. The electricity went off in the house in the middle of cooking breakfast. The boys were dawdling (imagine that) on the way out the door. Already late, one of them ran back to the house to get a book from inside. I hate to admit it, but I yelled a bit. The kids of school have been ready for the end of school--but we still have six more days of it. The lead teacher in my classroom went home sick in the afternoon, and the other assistant in our room wasn't able to arrive until 30 minutes after I was supposed to be teaching gym with another class. I managed to fit in an appointment to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store after school to get my phone looked at, but it was a spur of the moment thing so I didn't have my phone backed up, so they weren't able to get the problem solved (which will mean another trip to the mall). Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that terrible of a day; people have much worse ones. But it wasn't great.

But friends from church invited the boys and I over for supper, knowing that my wife is out of the country. When we got there, we saw several familiar cars. It turned out that our old small group had come together for birthday nachos. Everyone--even their dog--ran out with birthday hats on as we came up the sidewalk.

I'm not a big birthday celebration person. It's probably some unhealthy self-worth stuff going on--not liking the attention, not feeling I deserve it. But it was nice. It was a reminder of why I need community.

Community makes me not alone. That's an obvious fact, but I am bent toward avoiding sometimes--especially when I'm down on myself.

Community reminds me of the good within myself (especially when they went around the table saying something they liked about me).

Community, I'm learning, makes life worth it.

As I travel around the sun another time, I'm discovering how much I wished I learned earlier on in life. I'm trying to make things better, and leave a positive mark on those I come in contact with on my journey through life. I'm learning to embrace my imperfections and weaknesses, as well as moving forward, becoming a better person.

And I can't do it alone.