celebratory cuisine and a birthday prayer

This week is full of fun and celebrations and so of course - eating out. In the past two days you could find me at:

lunch with friends after our last co-op

breakfast with the kids after MRI for Nate's knee

lunch with Niki 'cause she is 17

and today

'cause it's free for me

and Bria's pick for her b-day on Saturday! Do you feel sick yet?

So, today is the day I turn 40 and I am sharing my birthday prayer.

When I was 20 I might have thought my prayers would sound more like this by now. Firstly, that I would be "old" at 40 and secondly, that my sanctification would have resulted in such utterances by now. It turns out I am not that grown up yet.

It is my prayer though and I can only hope that it becomes more of my prayer for the next 40 years.

Lord, You know better than I know myself that I am getting older and will someday be old. Keep me from... the fatal habit of thinking I must say something in every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but You know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind from the recital of endless details-give me wings to come to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter.

I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure the with patience. I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I will be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint-some of them are so hard to live with-but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me the grace to tell them so.

From Elisabeth Elliot's little book "Gateway to Joy".

It is attributed to a seventeenth-century nun.