A year had almost passed, and I was thinking about the anniversary of my stroke. I wanted to celebrate it. That seemed so weird to me. To honor this bad thing that happened to me. But I decided to do it. Why? Because something amazing happened after the stroke, I woke up. I woke up to a new day. I realize now what I was celebrating was not what happened, but what happened after. I realize now I was celebrating life.
I still celebrate life, but in a new way. I’m not celebrating my accomplishments, my victories, my accolades, the milestones of my life. Okay, I celebrate those as well. But I am also celebrating other things, weird things, small things, I guess I’m celebrating, not my life, but just life.
I am trying something new this month. Instead of posting a 1000 word post , I’m going to post some smaller posts. So here are seven ways I celebrate life, one at a time, for seven days.
Day one
I celebrate life as I experience God.
I can remember living my old life without God. Why do I say that? I believed in him, I tried to obey his commandments, but I lived my life sort of on my own, I didn’t rely on him. Man, the good in our lives is a double edged sword. It opens a door to living our lives on our own. The good (that came from God) distracted me from seeing where it came from. Having a stroke is more like a single edged sword, it cuts one way. The good in my life today starts with God. I can’t imagine weathering a stroke without God.
We are told God loves us, but often we think that God is aloof, judgemental, and unbending. Yeah, I get that. That is one way we perceive God. But after my stroke I experienced God in a new way. His reality, his goodness, the depth of his love became real to me. I experienced the goodness of God. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate life than that.
