I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."
St. Anthony the Great
The church was so kind. There was an amazing cake German chocolate cake with that coconut icing. Wow. There were smiles and hugs, jokes and poorly veiled attempts to discover my age (I'm 38 now). It was a lovely day. And, since it was also the occasion of the church's annual finance meeting, that's saying something! But that's only the beginning of the day. My spouse, too, was wonderful.
Being married to someone as unpredictable (read: moody) as I am takes some serious work. And, historically, birthdays have been tough. Trish celebrates well. It's genetic. Her family simply knows how to play. It's great. That I found celebrating my birthday difficult has been a point of confusion...to say the least. Trish was so wonderful this year. Veggie lasagna. Time to nap. Movies of my choosing (We joked about an imagined title, 1,900 Warriors Under the Shadow of a Vampire. I am the guy who rents such a movie. It cannot be helped.). A wonderful birthday gift. It was a great day.
Community can, from time to time, embrace us in these celebrations. They can draw us in, celebrating the very simple fact that God created us. It is, on some level, a celebration of a miracle. Each of us, crafted in God's own image, are to be honored. The church and my wife both do this so well.
And slowly, slowly, I am learning the humility and obedience that it takes to receive such an embrace...from family, friends, and the church.
Posted by tripp at January 29, 2008 08:48 AMBelated happy birthday, youngster!
Posted by: Megan at January 29, 2008 11:17 AMDid you get our Birthday greeting on your voicemail that Lauryn left? If not belated Happy Birthday.
BTW, I kind of feel similarly, as I think you might have noticed. I do have a sense of where my lack of desire to have big celebrations, is because after a certain age I didn't have a party in which I invited friends over for a party and any family celebration was always done in a few month groupings, so my extended family always celebrated the april/may June July birthdays somewhere in may or June, for example, and I'd even sometimes get my birthday gifts from my parents at that celebration as opposed to my birthday. But this did mean that my parents gave me a birthday party when I was young for me and my friends (if I wanted them) and the family celebrations were never focused on just my birthday. So still having people just focus on the celebrating of my birthday alone feels just a bit weird and awkward. Though, I do not project this on others and do enjoy celebrating other peoples birthdays, when there are such celebrations.