Happy Birthday!

The other day, as I wrote the date at the top of the page in my journal, I got excited. Why? Well because it was one day away from my birthday. Then, after getting really pumped about what the next day would bring, I realized how strange this was… I mean, it’s just Thursday. It’s just the middle of May. It’s just another day… why was I so excited? It’s not like I remember being born (thank goodness). It’s not like there’s anything particularly birthday-ish about that day. What was causing this completely tangible excitement inside me? Why was I getting so fired up about just another day? And then I figured it out… it would be just another day like every other day except for one thing: the people I love always make a big deal about me on my birthday.

On my birthday I sleep in really late and get birthday cards from Christy and the kids. She gets them all excited about my day and when they see me they go nuts with hugs and kisses and “Happy Birthday!” all around. My family and friends call and send gifts and tell me they love me and that they are glad I am in this world and it feels really good. Christy always makes all the food I love best in the world and there’s always lots of laughing and chilling. When I wrote May 14 at the top of the page and knew that my day was coming up next I got excited because (dare I say it) I knew that I was going to be sort of celebrated and that made me happy.

Last year on my birthday I was at a Young Life camp in Georgia on a week long assignment, doing skits and entertainment for tons of college kids while my wife and daughters were back home in Tennessee. I didn’t have any cell phone signal which meant that Christy and I didn’t talk all day. As a result, and for the first time in my life, I went through my entire birthday without one person mentioning the fact that I had been born on this day… Finally, when it was thirty minutes before midnight, my friend Andy turned to me and said, “Dude, I’m sorry… I forgot to tell you happy birthday.” I felt like Harry Potter in book one drawing my own birthday cake in the dirt.

You know, when Christians come together on Sunday mornings to worship the Lord, we are celebrating Him, offering Him gifts and telling Him we love Him. Our worship services are basically the people He loves making a big deal about Him and He loves it. He loves to be told by us that we need Him. He loves to receive our gifts of praise and thanks. He loves to be told by His children that He is loved. I wonder if His heart gets excited on Saturday… I wonder if He gets fired up looking forward to His day knowing that His people are going to come together just to celebrate Him. Let’s make sure He never has to wait to hear what He loves so much! Let’s really give Him something to look forward too!

Here's a drawing Anna did of a rainbow, a tree and a person... oh yeah and birds. There are far away birds and one close-up bird down on the bottom left: