Celebrate People

I feel so loved this week. And I feel loved most days by my family and house mates and friends. But this week my friends really celebrated me and made me feel super special. Katie Kat ate lunch with me on my birthday and bought me flowers and a pedicure. My mom and dad ate dinner with me and showered me with gifts. My brother bought me spy glasses and told me he loved me. My house mates got some of my best friends together and took me out to ice cream and downtown. It was super sweet.

I feel like for the first time in my life I have lots of friends. I have friends in Oklahoma and in Colorado and in Peru. I have friends who go to Alaska camps and friends from Wewoka Woods. And I have amazing friends that live close by to me and best friends that live with me.

And for so long in my life I've struggled to have good friends. I haven't always had many friends. And I haven't always felt so loved on my birthday. I've always felt loved by my family- but I haven't always had tons of friends to celebrate with. So this 24th birthday was super special for that reason. And in so many ways I'm just so grateful to have such amazing friends and I want them to know that I love them alot. And I want to practice being a better friend.

I've been reading this amazing book called "Everybody Always" and it's about loving everyone. It's easy to love people who are lovable but it's harder to love people you don't click with or are annoyed with. And even with people you love, how much are you loving them? Do you love them in a crazy way, in an unconventional way? Do you treat them the same way you treat Jesus?

And I think one way we can love the people around us is by celebrating them and celebrating with them when something good happens in their life. Birthdays should be celebrated. New jobs celebrated, graduations celebrated, engagements celebrated- because it's special, beautiful, once in a lifetime memories. And the extra effort, the extra money, the extra time is always worth it- I believe- when invested in relationships.

So tonight I'm just like Wow Jesus thank you for blessing me with so many amazing friends.
Thank you for the way they love me and care but more importantly thank you for loving me each and every day and seeing the best. And Lord transform my heart and teach me how to better love the people around me so I can be more like you. Help me to celebrate other people because they are worth celebrating.