Celebrate with cake!

     Happy Birthday, May May (our 23 year old--which means her mom and dad are old as dirt)!  And this, my friends, is a picture of pure bliss--Edible Art almond birthday cake.  Life is good.  Very very good... especially when it involves cake of any kind.  "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." (Ps.34:8)  Life is short and deserves to be celebrated--and our God is so good.  Might we rejoice in Him and His gifts.  Preferably with lots and lots of cake.
     We have had the joy of having all our children home this weekend.  Our oldest daughter is here from Charlotte so we can all celebrate her birthday, and our oldest son is still home until next week when he returns to college.   Who could have dreamed but a few years ago when our home seemed like constant chaos and clutter (okay, it still does), children were everywhere, and the days never seemed to end with all the soccer games and basketball practices and golf matches and singing concerts that we would soon bemoan our children having grown up and moved away to college and work?  But it happened all too soon.  We thank the Lord that we still have three at home, but those days are growing ever shorter as well.  It's so true: "The days are long but the years are short."  
     So right now, we rejoice in having them all home!   For all the trouble and work and exhaustion, children truly are our greatest gifts and treasures.  How we thank the Lord for each of them! An old Amish proverb reminds us: "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see."   Might they bring God glory as they share His message of love and redemption and grace into the distant future.
     Today, celebrate God's goodness to you in the people He has graciously placed in your life--your spouse, your children, your siblings, your parents, your friends.  "O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;  For His lovingkindness is everlasting." (IChron.16:34)  "...in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (I Thess. 5:18)  Find someone, find something for which to give thanks to the King of Kings and the Giver of all good gifts... and then celebrate, preferably with cake!  Remember, we are to "taste and see that the Lord is good!"  There's a verse you can sink your teeth into!  To God, our joyous Lord, be all the glory.