It’s just a square on a page of a calendar with a number in it. 

But it was my first birthday without her. 

And on that calendar square, there’s something about the silly cheering our moms do for us. I could be fifty and still expect her to be tooting my horn the loudest.

It’d be easier to quietly move past this day—and plenty of times, we do. Except we’re still here, and His purpose is still on us. 

So I reminded Dad to get the artificial and chemically enhanced chocolate chip cookie cake with enough buttercream icing to make a pancreas scream. The one she gets me each year—and spell out my entire name, would you, Dad? (He did.)

Because how can I despair when she’d tell me forever with Christ is the best there is? I can picture her shaking her finger at me with a sparkle in her eye: Paige, all the pain is worth it. 

I’d believe her. 

So we press on and we press in. Another trip around the sun is another year closer to the Reunion that knows no end. 

But right now, we have work to do. There is no getting comfy because all of this matters.

These troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs the lot of them in epic proportions. 

Pain leaves no space for apathy where Christ uses it to enhance eternity. 

Here’s to another day to walk with Christ, trusting He is powerful enough to turn this mess for the better. 

2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:17‬; Romans 8:28; Hebrews 11:39-40.