It's My Birthday...yay?

As we roll to the end of another calendar year, we come to my birthday. I guess I remember a few of them...but not really. I do remember I once had my birthday on the same day that my class had its Christmas party. (There was a time when public school classes had Christmas parties. Truly, for a kid, one of the great reasons to break down the wall of separation between church and state.) My favorite birthday gift was when my wife surprised me with a 12-string Alvarez guitar. That was cool. But those aren't a lot of memories for 50 plus years on the planet.

Because Jesus and I share the same birthday week it seems rather arrogant to insist on the importance of my natal star. Plus, I grew up in Minnesota. It was always dark, cold, and winter. Most of the time I'm so depressed on my birthday that I couldn't wish celebrating another hour, much less a year. Here's my favorite birthday song: In the Bleak Midwinter. And you think you have it bad. Thanks, James.

So what do you use your birthdays for? Are they for looking back? Or do you look to the future? Are they just an excuse to go out to dinner? A chance to get a present or take a trip? An opportunity to serve somewhere in your neighborhood? Without a doubt my favorite birthday was a few years ago when I celebrated with the folks of Prairie Table back in Bismarck. There were a lot of good friends there that night, we had a buffet, and people tried to outdo each other bringing me bottles of bourbon. Some of the friends of that night are no longer with us, but I remember that birthday best of all.

Today I am sitting in an office in a church in a town in a state that I'd never even heard of that night six years ago. (OK, I'd heard of Nebraska.) How weird to try and piece a life from that party to this desk...? Live is an amazing, wonderful mystery, and each year I am extremely grateful that I got to be a part of it. I wonder if Jesus ever thought about stuff like this? What was he grateful for in his life? I am extremely grateful  for the friends of I had then, and all the new ones I have met since. That's what birthdays are to me these days: remembering my friends. May your year be blessed as mine was.

May your tables be full and your conversations be true.