thirty-one things to do

(a zero pressure birthday bucket list)

in my next year of this wild and precious life / I want to make spinach and feta croissants / and a peach galette / take a walk with my mom downtown / pray for my dad / buy coffee for a stranger / clean out a drawer / and some cobwebbed corners of my mind / make space for new things to bloom in the expanse / listen to some Andrew Peterson / criticize less / encourage more / keep running through the grey days / read a book that makes me laugh out loud / and a book that makes me sob / fill my journal / buy a new one and fill that one too / lay on the trampoline and watch the clouds / and the stars / pick a bouquet of sunflowers / post this poem about sunflowers on my fridge / forget my phone / jump off the diving board without testing the water first / read the Word slowly / make our marriage a haven / always say yes to sitting by the water / play hymns on the piano / be honest with God / look for His fingerprint in every little thing / invite my girls into the kitchen to chat with me or cook with me / stop apologizing for simple meals / throw my arms wide to embrace joy