I love birthdays. My birthday is my day of the year when I let my spoiled rotten only child princess truly shine with reckless abandon. I will utter the phrase "cuz it's mah birthday" many times that day to those closest to me. I. Love. Birthdays.
And not just my own. I LOVE buying birthday gifts for people. Finding something special that makes me think of them. Finding something to make them smile and smile BIG. I love giving birthday gifts at unnecessarily elaborately planned occasions. I love making people see how seen they are. I love making my people know how special they are. I will forever make a big deal out of the birthdays of those closest to me.
Birthdays are a celebration; a way of saying, "I am extremely happy that God decided the world needed one of you!" We are not celebrating an accomplishment of the person, because you had absolutely nothing to do with your own creation and entry into this world. You were God's big idea and your mother's blood/sweat/tears...and maybe your father's broken hand from mom squeezing it. You didn't do anything to earn your birth.
I didn't do anything but give Lorie Nash Chaney reason to remind me of the pain of child birth for all eternity.
You didn't accomplish your birthday, but you are the one who gets the presents. Why? Because we aren't celebrating your accomplishments; we are celebrating YOU.
This morning I was doing my morning Bible Study and I read this scripture. We don't earn it, but God loves giving it. God loves giving birthday gifts, too. God loves showering his kids in gifts every day, every second. We don't earn them, but He loves giving them.