Birthdays

Birthdays. Love them, hate them, or ignore them. But whichever you do, chances are you've given some thought, at one time or another, to the significance of your birthday. If you haven't, maybe you should.

For some of us, a birthday is little more than the commemoration of -- as one person put it -- having completed another circuit around our star. Just another passing year. Others seem daunted by the great futility of another year, or of life itself. For still others, a birthday is a day of inordinate self-indulgence, and celebration of self.

But all of these sentiments miss the significance of our birthday. A birthday is not a matter of getting older, or of completing another year, for if that is all it is, then a birthday is indeed just an empty, pointless celebration. And maybe that's why we sometimes look at the prospect of another birthday and find nothing but death, or the droning march toward death -- because the author of life has been left out of our thoughts.

A birthday is more than just another year passed, more than just a personal New Years Day. This is because the day is, as ironic as it may seem, not about us. It is about about God, who is the author of our existence. It is a celebration not of ourselves, but of God. So it can and should be a day of thanksgiving, prayer and reflection that emphasizes the goodness of God - not ourselves. Whether we've had a good year or a bad year, whether we like ourselves or not, whether we're happy or sad, we can (and should) always celebrate our birthday in a spirit of profound gratitude.

For we have indeed been given another year in which to grow in Love, but we have been given much more. We have been given many gifts -- not according to what we have earned (thank God), but entirely according to the gratuitous generosity, mercy and infinite Love that is God.

The most profound of these gifts is the gift of our existence. And it is precisely the commemoration of the miracle of our existence that we celebrate on our birthday.

Therefore, a birthday is time for renewed awareness of our intimate connection with Him who is the source of our existence -- with Him Who IS existence itself -- Who has given us a share in His life, and Who desires to unite us to Himself. It is a time to rest in reverent awe at the gifts of life, redemption and eternal life.

When we live our birthday in recollected prayer and thanksgiving we may find that the worldly events of the day become less important. Whatever happens, good or bad, the answer to the question "did you have a good birthday" always becomes "yes, I had a great birthday."