Happy May Everyone! I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the month of May. As it is the end of school, everyone in my house is super tired and cranky. We are worn out with testing and finals still to come.

But yet, at the end of this months awaits a special prize.

I will celebrate my 45th Birthday!

Yes, I am going ahead and claiming the big 4-5 loud and proud. I am middle-aged. Hallelujah. I think there are two reasons hitting midlife makes me want to celebrate instead of sink into a crisis.

• I have known and loved too many people who never made it to 45. The saddest thing about being a pastor in Methodist Churches for six years was having to bury people who never got the chance to grow old. I watched children die before their parents and parents die while still raising children. So I know that growing older is a privilege and feel darn lucky to have made it this far.
• I know my story isn’t over yet. My story is changing. That much is true. There are parts of my life that are coming to a close (looking young, not having aching joints, having little kids in the house) and parts of my life that I once dreamed of that will never be. But there is much to me that is yet to come. The me that has more time to write. The me that has the time and money to travel again. The me that can have an uninterrupted dinner conversation with my husband and then go for a slow walk after cleaning the kitchen together. I really am looking forward to getting to know this upcoming version of me.

But that being said, I am also really grateful for the me I have been the past 45 years. Sure, there were ups and downs. But I got to experience so many wonderful things and learn so much about myself and the world. In this period of reflection, the word that keeps coming back to me is

GRATEFUL.

I am just so grateful for it all.  So in the spirit of gratitude and celebration for the past 45 years of life on this beautiful, messy world, I have decided to make May’s newsletter a Favourite Things edition. That is right, I am pretending like I am Oprah for a minute and sharing all my favourite things. I will share my favourite book with you, a video of me leading you through my favourite relaxation exercise, a sermon nugget for my favourite Sunday of the year (spoiler alert, it is Pentecost), and last but certainly not least a free, downloadable, printable Jenn Tucker illustration of my favourite Scripture. Now I wish I really could be like Oprah and pass out free copies of my favourite book to everyone. But alas I am not a gazillionaire like she is.

But I can Give Away one free copy of my favourite book.

And a pack of Jenn Tucker’s Scripture cards

The ones I love so much I have a mini easel on my kitchen table so I can switch out the cards and display the one I need to read that day. If you want to be entered into the giveaway just enter your email into the magenta newsletter bar at the top of this website. Even if you don’t win, you will still receive my fun and inspirational newsletter every month. I will pick the two lucky winners from amongst my newsletter subscribers from my favourite hat Monday, May 7th at 5pm. I hope your May is more spring flowers than finals stress. And if you are stressed, hey, I have got a great relaxation exercise to help with that. 😉 Grateful for you all, Dena  ]]>