Chula Vista, Calif. – We are living life to the fullest, thanks to friends who have welcomed my husband and me into “The Group.” This is a fun group and what we do is eat (great gourmet foods), sing (thanks to magic mike), talk (healthy conversations about entrepreneurship, culture, education, Gawad Kalinga, community service) play Boogle (a word formation game) and then go into a singing contest with a difference. A good singer is paired with one who can’t carry a tune and the results makes the winners feel that they are the best singers in the group.
Last weekend “The Group” had their monthly gathering to celebrate the birthday celebrants for the month of March. As the four honorees with an age range of 50 to 83 lined up to blow the candles on the two birthday cakes, healthy laughter ensued. All of them grew a year younger!
Birthdays are significant to all of us not only because they remind us of the day we were born but more so they make us think of how much or how long God has been a part of our lives – blessing, providing, loving and taking care of us – through our family and friends.
A birthday marks a unit of time; some use it to reflect on the past, but we in “The Group” use it to build friendships and to plan what we can do to make our community, and the Philippines for that matter, a much better place. Most, if not all members of the group, have achieved what they want in life. They have reached the peak of Maslow’s cone of experience, the level of self-actualization.
As a group we are celebrating birthdays to affirm that it is great to be alive. We are happy that God has blessed us in many special ways with our talents, with our possessions, and with our relationships. We rejoice in each other's presence, appreciate each other's talents, and recognize each other's contribution for the good of others. This is a positive and happy group, a by-product of life usefully lived.
Praise God for good company – people who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked but whose delight is in the law of the Lord. They are like trees planted by streams of water which yield fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. They count their days with fun and laughter, fully aware of God’s goodness in their lives. To be in such a company makes us grow younger as we age.