The world
loves holidays! Every culture on the planet has them, and for varied reasons.
We all know
the big ones in this country and around the world, and some of the minor ones most of us don’t actually
celebrate, but they are still on the calendar. If I had to pick one of the big
ones as my favorite it would be Thanksgiving. However, none of the big ones or
any of the minor ones is my favorite holiday.
My favorite
holiday…..Birthdays!
Not just
mine either. I celebrate everybody’s birthday. They are extra special holidays
because they are YOUR day. Sure, a couple hundred-thousand people were born on
the same day, but in your corner of the world, it is YOUR day!
I celebrate
every birthday I know of with a card, a prayer, and a $1 bill. That $1 is to treat
yourself to your favorite candy bar. Yes, you can still buy a candy bar for a
dollar or less at the right stores.
Birthdays
are a celebration of you, your years on the earth; how you’ve grown and
changed, what you’ve learned, where your headed, and reaching for your dreams.
I assess
myself on my birthday. How am I doing? Have I grown? What did I learn in the
last year? Am I headed in the right direction? Are my dreams still alive or am
I just existing day today? Am I still loving life, or has it turned ugly on
me?
These are questions
I ask myself often, but I dwell on them more deeply on my birthday. I want to
make sure that another year has not whooshed by uneventfully, leaving me empty
and dried up on the inside.
I love
celebrating my birthday. It’s MY day….week….month! My favorite cake is carrot cake,
but I also love ice cream cake; with my birthday being in August, ice cream
cake is perfect. I love getting cards and displaying them all year on my bedroom
wall. I look at all the cards I get during the entire year and smile at all the
love I’ve received.
So, on your
next birthday….celebrate YOU! For you are an awesome and wonderful creation. (Ps. 139:14)
