Element of Surprise
Celebrating the forward momentum of your life sounds exciting, right? We get the chance to do that every year! Not only for yourself, but for others as well.
As my birthday approaches this week, I am giddy at the thought of another year behind me and the year of life ahead of me.
While many begin to dread their birthdays as they grow older and become adults with more responsibilities and big life decisions, I dare you to think differently. We have the opportunity to really feel the wonderment of the occasion and rejoice in the time God has given us.
With gift-giving as my top love language, birthdays rank pretty high on the list of days to really dive into my way of showing God’s love to others. It fills my soul to be able to not only give gifts to others, but my time and true gratefulness for their part in my life.
I also enjoy celebrating my own; while getting older can be a bit scary at times, it’s so much better to dwell in how I have grown and in the moments that have culminated to bring me into a new year.
So often I hear how my friends, one-by-one, stop celebrating their birthdays with each passing year. I realized that many of the adults in my life only see this special day as a way to go out to eat, maybe blow some candles out on a cake and pass it over as nothing more. We hear, “oh, I stopped counting at 30” or “don’t make a fuss,” “I don’t want anything” and “it’s not a big deal anymore.”
This is such a culturally negative mindset that it bleeds into each generation, until it reaches 20-somethings not wanting to celebrate because “it’s not an important birthday like 16, 21 or 50.”
Why can’t we celebrate every year with the joy we had when we turned 6? There is life to be had each and every year, ladies!
As we continue to make a big deal about birthdays, others will follow suit. Shower your family, your friends and yourself in love each year, especially on birthdays. There is a certain joy that comes when making a point to do this each year; it takes everyone by surprise.
What a beautiful surprise it is to joyously observe the life God has given us!
