It is the 9th of April, and I’m outside currently with my dog in my parents’ garden, and we are playing the “find it” game where I throw treats on the ground and hope that he will find them. So far he’s finding them, but he does get distracted occasionally and I have to kind of centre his attention back to the game but I’m going to try and record as I’m playing with him in the garden. So, earlier this week was actually my cousin’s birthday, and it got me thinking about birthdays, and how important it is to celebrate one’s birthday.

It’s sad though, because I’ve discovered many times that people will really only celebrate certain rounded birthdays and call those the real birthdays to celebrate, which I find really sad because surely that’s so insulting to God when we aren’t celebrating the fact that another year’s been added to our lives and we’re kind of taking that for granted and not seeing the importance of it, not seeing the beauty of another year and how important it is to celebrate. It’s like we have forgotten what it means to have a birthday, to be born and to remember what that really symbolises.

It’s just made me think about how people think about their birthdays and what they are, what they mean. I know I’m repeating myself, but I’m just watching the dog at the same time. I just want my daughter to celebrate every year, every year she’s been given. I want to celebrate every year. I want my husband to celebrate every year, he’s been given and just to really enjoy it because it’s such an important time. When I think about when my daughter was born, it’s always one of those things I remember as being…

You probably heard me telling off my dog. He was about to dig and I do not want to be held responsible for that. So I just wanted to make sure he knows not to do it. But yeah, going back to what I was saying.

I was thinking about my daughter, the birth of my daughter. It was one of the most incredible and also slightly traumatic experiences I’ve ever had. It was, as a whole, though, such a beautiful thing. The traumatic part we’ll get into in another time. But the beauty of it was, honestly, what I love because it made me realise the celebration aspect of one’s birth is so important. It’s something that we definitely take for granted in the world and it’s just insulting. I really hope that people will take the time to really think about what a birthday really means and to not get caught up in all of these sort of celebrations of “I’m turning 16 so I have to throw a sweet 16 birthday and it has to look like this and it has to feel like this” and really just pause and really consider what it means to be given life and choosing to celebrate that, and the importance of why you must do that, and how much it must please God to see how much he’s done for you.

I just want my daughter to know that her birth brings us so much joy and I’m grateful for her and having her in my life, and I’m grateful to be able to have time with her and to have time with my husband and to be able to celebrate with my family and my friends and just to not get caught up in this sort of idolisation of, this is what it needs to look like and feel like, because it’s completely wrong and it’s insulting to God. So I hope this encourages you to celebrate and to really just enjoy your birthday whenever that is and if you are outside enjoying the weather, then I hope that ir’s a great day for you, and you’re enjoying that time with your family, your friends, and just, yeah, celebrate. It’s important to do that. Okay, take care.

Scripture References:

Psalms 139:13

Proverbs 9:11