Birthday Reflections

“All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.”  Psalm 139:16

Last week was my birthday.  I received numerous Facebook birthday wishes, text messages, phone calls, and cards.  I was touched by all the people who reached out and thought of me on my special day.  As I thanked people on Facebook, I thought of how our paths connected in life – family, high school, hometown, churches, work, weddings, and so many other ways.  It made me ponder how important relationships are and how they give meaning and purpose to our lives.

Birthdays are full of memories.  We remember our childhood and how we celebrated our birthday with family or friends.  For some of us, our childhood was good, and birthdays were observed with cake and presents.  For some of you, this did not happen, and I am sorry you did not receive this gift of commemorating the day God gave life to you.  I remember baking and decorating my own cake from about the age of nine.  My dad always took a picture of the family around the cake that had candles.  I got to choose the flavor of the cake and the color of icing.  My brother, David, always chose chocolate cake with blue icing.  The presents were small and are long gone, but the memories of being together as a family remain.

As we age, we may not celebrate birthdays like we did in childhood except for some milestone years when one lives into those extra decades of life.  My mind does not feel the number that I just turned nor does my body most days.  I think I am half my age and probably act it sometimes too, which I am proud of.  I was in line at a restaurant on my birthday waiting to give my order (we were traveling). A bus load of youth were in front of us.  Three boys were talking and one of them about twelve years old said to his youth pastor that there were three old people behind him and he should let them go first.  I looked behind me and realized he was referring to me as one of those “old” people.  Wow, I am old to those who are teenagers.

Yes, on each birthday, we add another number to our age.  God has planned each day that we will live on this earth.  Are we focused on the number or on the experiences and adventures of each year?  I am trying to reflect more on how God has used me this year, and on how I have glorified God in what I did this year.  It is also a time to be grateful for how God has brought me through trials and situations.  I recognize that God has showered me with His grace and forgiveness – my past has been redeemed.  Yours has too, and God has forgiven you and blessed each of us with His grace and mercy.  Birthdays are a time to be grateful for the blessings of the year.  It is also a time to recognize God’s comforting presence through the difficult and sad times of the past year.

I am grateful for the people I have encountered on my path of life.  I am thankful for each of you who are reading this blog. I am thankful to have celebrated and officiated at your weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and funerals of your loved ones.  Relationships add joy and love to our lives.  They can also be the cause of pain, trauma, and heartache.  They are a mixture.  I do not want to diminish anyone’s pain and hurt, but God will redeem it.  We cannot change the past and what happened, but we can change our focus to what is good now in our lives and allow the days God has for us to be filled with His love and grace.

I am grateful for each one of you.  Some of you I have walked with through the hurts and pains of your life.  God has used me as His vessel and filled me with His Spirit to bring comfort to you and redeem the past.  Some of you have found hope and comfort through the words I have written in these blogs and in my books.  My friend, Pat, found comfort in my book, Living In The Different, after her husband, Bill died.  Pat now is my number one salesperson for my books.  God places people on her path who have lost a loved one and she shares with them and gives them a book.  I am so humbled that the words God gave me are helping other people on the grief journey.  I am thankful for my friend, Pat.  God redeemed my grief and used it to provide comfort to others.

God has blessed me in my life and ministry, and God has brought good out of the hurt and grief.  I am thankful.  God gives each of us so many days on earth to live and share His love and grace with others.  None of us are perfect.  We all mess up and are not always a great witness for Jesus.  But we keep trying.  We keep receiving God’s grace, and God continues to use our imperfectness to humble us and focus on God through us not on ourselves.

It is in this humbleness and imperfectness that I ask each of you to share one of my books with someone in your life or give a gift to yourself.  Maybe someone who is grieving – give them my book, Living In The Different.  For someone who wants to take steps into life and truly live in the moments, give them Live Different Moments.  For those who want to leave a legacy and find purpose in life, give them Life Lessons of a Lone Trooper.  (All 3 are available on Amazon or directly from me.)

 Thank you for reading these words and allowing God’s Spirit to touch your life just like His Spirit has touched mine to write these words.

Birthdays are a time of reflection.  Has my life made any difference?  My focus now is not about me but glorifying God in all that I do and say and write.  God is with you.  Focus on the moments in front of you and how you can glorify God daily.  Reflect.  Release.  Redeem.

God bless you!