It’s My Birthday!

Do you know what day it is? It is National Encouragement Day! National Chocolate Milkshake day, Police Woman Day and National Video Games Day! It is also the day that I was born. I share this day with Jennifer Hudson, Maurice Chevalier, Madame Curie, Henry Husdon and Bob Brouwer among others.

Birthdays are one day we can call our own. We can give ourselves permission to honor life, our unique place in God’s story and the precious relationships we have that make life what it is. The day a person is born is worth celebrating; it is worth remembering over and over!  And either, we like birthdays or we don’t. I guess I am a birthday person.  Or at least I grew up in a home where I felt celebrated every year. I can remember most of the celebrations. I remember less of the gifts. I remember parties and cakes, friends, sleepovers, special events…I know that Jim worked hard to make the special days count, even though he really was not a birthday person himself.  I think it was because he didn’t really like the attention and he was not a “cake” person!

It is also the beginning of a year for me.  It is a day of self-reflection, which is not always easy, unless I focus on what I learn from the failures and shortcomings. Hindsight is a valuable tool but only if used for future good. I like to look back and recalibrate so that I can have an even better year than any before. Everybody has a reason to celebrate their time on the earth. We just may have to stop and think about it before we can grasp it.

So I am remembering some favorite moments in my life and some of the people who have made me the person I have become. Next year I hope I am thinner, wiser, more generous and kind. May God get all the glory, but may my life be worth the glory He gets!

Here’s to another 365 day journey around the Sun/SON!