EAT CAKE!

This week was a lot of fun. I mentioned before that we celebrated Huston and Emery's birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese. Yes, Emery was three this year and Huston - five years old. They are so darned cute I can hardly stand it. Birthdays are so fun when kids are little. The excitement on their faces is so adorable. Just having people make the day all about them is like becoming king/queen of the world! Then comes the presents. There are so many! Where do they begin...what do they play with first...do they have to share them with someone....aren't the presents just for them? It's a selfish day...but hey! It's THEIR day!

My birthday is Christmas Eve. As a child, it was NEVER a good day to have a birthday. It was NEVER a day just about me. It was NEVER a day of lots of presents, where people gathered around and focused just on me. Well, except once. I had ONE birthday party. However, one mom brought her child with chicken pox and exposed EVERYONE at my party and not long after...well...you can guess. That was the only party I ever had. Everyone was always focused on Christmas the day of my birthday. All the kids were focused on what they would get the next day. It was really a bummer birthday for a little kid. My parents believed you celebrated one's birthday on the day of their birthday. Therefore...BUMMER day.

Jimmy had a grandfather who believed that no birthday was a big deal. He said that EVERY day was some one's birthday. Therefore....so what! Birthdays were no big deal. Talk about a BUMMER! I bet Jimmy was glad he had HIS parents and not his grandfather for a parent! Could have been a real BUMMER!

However, in saying that...it is true. Every day is some one's birthday. But isn't it a reason to celebrate? Isn't it a reason to be joyful? Isn't it a reason to kick up one's heals and clap one's hands and blow out candles all around? There is a new life born every day. Some parent is joyfully bringing a new life into this world. How exciting that is!

But even more exciting...there is someone, EVERY DAY, getting a new life in heaven. Every day, when someone commits their life to Christ, they are BORN AGAIN. They receive a new life. That is a time to celebrate. That is a birthday in itself! Shouldn't that be a time to celebrate? What about when a Christian dies? They are received in a new body in heaven. Isn't that a new life in heaven? Isn't that a form of birthday too? Shouldn't we be celebrating a birthday again? WOW....there are all kinds of birthdays to celebrate. Jimmy's grandfather was right. Every day is some one's birthday. But that's not a reason to ignore the celebration...it IS the reason to celebrate! We should be celebrating EVERY day BECAUSE it is someone's birthday.

So today, I am thankful for birthdays. Birthdays of new babies born into this world each day, birthdays of those living on earth, of those who are born again in Christ and of those who are passing from this life to their new life in heaven. Every day is a day to celebrate!

So let's EAT CAKE!