HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Baby Boomers, it's what they called our generation.  Feeling in the way while the staff dressed my mom in a gown and placed her in a make-shift bed next to the elevator, Dad prepared to leave the hospital.  Mom kissed him goodbye, told him to get something to eat.  She would be fine.  . . . When Dad returned a couple of hours later, she told him they had a baby girl (from her bed--still beside the elevator).

                                    (Taken from All The Rivers Run Into The Sea, WestBow Press, 2011)

The story of Karen in "All The Rivers. . . " 

was also the story of my very beginning.  

(The rest of the story is fiction.)

One year old.  1947

Birthdays were big occasions in my childhood home. 


There was always a nicely decorated, home-made cake, candles, pictures, and singing.

Two years old with three-year-old brother.  1948

Sometimes, friends celebrated with us.

1950

A birthday friend, 1955.

When school started, one might celebrate with friends.

My best friend, Donna, even convinced her mother to make a birthday cake for me so we could celebrate at her house.

A birthday smile, 1958.

Another cake, another year.

Looking back, I do not remember any particular present that I received.  I do not remember any particular meal served on my birthday or a special cake.  Although I received all of the above lovingly and
tenderly from family and friends.
What I do remember is how I felt on my birthday
--loved and cared for.







       Hopefully, as our own children have grown and celebrated birthdays, we have passed this tradition on to them.  The idea that we are each unique in God's universe and that he created us to spend eternal life with him is amazing.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

(The Lord speaking to Jeremiah. . . in Jeremiah 1:5)

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. . .

you are worth more than many sparrows.

(Matthew 10:30)

With each passing year,
I have realized that life is truly a gift and
each new year offers new wonder.

New life, 1974

Another birthday, 2009.

Whether you celebrate with family or friends or are fortunate enough to celebrate with both, rejoice!
Whether you are celebrating your birthday or another's, rejoice!
God created each of us for a purpose.

A prayer for today:                                                                    

Lord, You loved me before I was ever born.  

You sent Your Son Jesus to redeem me
from my sins.  

You have given me the gift of eternal life.  

Today, I will share the priceless blessings 

I have received.  I will share my joy,

my possessions, and  my faith with others. 

                                         Amen  

(Taken from Day 153, 365 Daily Devotions For Women, 2009, Freeman-Smith)

Psalm 139

O Lord you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

. . .

I praise you

because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.