Well, that was quick. Today, I find myself yet another year older. It seems like I just had my birthday a couple of days ago. I suppose the old adage holds true: time does seem to go by faster the older you get.
Birthdays are a curious human phenomenon. I don’t think any other creature that populates God’s lovely Earth keeps track of how old they are and how a year has passed them by. If that were true, what would you get a gorilla or a dolphin for their birthdays? We keep track of birthdays because they’re important to us.
For us, a birthday is one year, one complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun, an annual observance of the day that we were born, thrust upon the world (or perhaps we had the world thrust upon us, depends on how you see it). In a sense, it is saying, I’ve made it through another year!
There are some who cringe on having added another year to their life, even more so when it includes any number over fifty. I am not one of them. For me, birthdays have become a badge of honor. It is another layer of wisdom, mistakes, maturity, insight, and growth added to me. Sure, it’s very easy to see and cheer on that process happen in a newborn all the way through high school when there’s physical growth happening and rapid learning occurring, but it’s still present no matter what age we are, even much later in our lives. Thank God that we’re always growing (even when we’ve stopped physically growing)! Thank God that we’re always learning (even when we’ve mastered something)! Thank God that we’re always able to improve (even when we stubbornly think we’ve reached perfection)!
Birthdays are the perfect opportunity to look back and reflect on how much you’ve come in a year and how much more you get to go. Rather than be discouraged on how much you’re “getting up there,” be encouraged on how much God has shaped and changed you and given you opportunities to gain a bit more wisdom and maturity. If He’s done that much for you in one year, how much more will He do when you give Him eternity?
“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” – Proverbs 16:31
– Matt
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Birthdays, A Meditation
September 20, 2012
Calvary
Comments Off on Birthdays, A Meditation
Matt
Well, that was quick. Today, I find myself yet another year older. It seems like I just had my birthday a couple of days ago. I suppose the old adage holds true: time does seem to go by faster the older you get.
Birthdays are a curious human phenomenon. I don’t think any other creature that populates God’s lovely Earth keeps track of how old they are and how a year has passed them by. If that were true, what would you get a gorilla or a dolphin for their birthdays? We keep track of birthdays because they’re important to us.
For us, a birthday is one year, one complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun, an annual observance of the day that we were born, thrust upon the world (or perhaps we had the world thrust upon us, depends on how you see it). In a sense, it is saying, I’ve made it through another year!
There are some who cringe on having added another year to their life, even more so when it includes any number over fifty. I am not one of them. For me, birthdays have become a badge of honor. It is another layer of wisdom, mistakes, maturity, insight, and growth added to me. Sure, it’s very easy to see and cheer on that process happen in a newborn all the way through high school when there’s physical growth happening and rapid learning occurring, but it’s still present no matter what age we are, even much later in our lives. Thank God that we’re always growing (even when we’ve stopped physically growing)! Thank God that we’re always learning (even when we’ve mastered something)! Thank God that we’re always able to improve (even when we stubbornly think we’ve reached perfection)!
Birthdays are the perfect opportunity to look back and reflect on how much you’ve come in a year and how much more you get to go. Rather than be discouraged on how much you’re “getting up there,” be encouraged on how much God has shaped and changed you and given you opportunities to gain a bit more wisdom and maturity. If He’s done that much for you in one year, how much more will He do when you give Him eternity?
“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” – Proverbs 16:31
– Matt
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