Birthdays

These thoughts have been triggered by my wife's birthday yesterday and our oldest son's birthday today. What's to say about birthdays? Following are a few thoughts on this subject.

Birthdays have always been important. Children look forward with anticipation to their next birthday, often adding a fraction of a year to their age when asked how old they are. It seems that the older we get the less important our birthday becomes - until we get to a certain age. Sometimes that age is 30, or 40, and of course 50.

After age 50 it seems that we begin to think differently about birthdays. Some will look forward to 65, or whatever is considered retirement age these days. Some don't really look forward to that time at all, or to 70 - that's three score years and ten, the age spoken of in the Bible as representing life's expectancy, you know. Do we really want to go there? What choice do we have?

Getting "older" usually means beginning to think more about our own mortality. There's something sobering about that, isn't there? We usually think we will wait to make wills, make out our health care desires, etc. until we're "older." Does anyone have the assurance of living to a certain age? Don't think so.

My Mom was 40 when I was born, so she always seemed "old" to me. I used to ask her on her birthdays if she thought she was old, and she always said "no." Finally when she was 80 I asked her that again and she said, "well if you say so." "Old" then is a relative term, and I really just prefer "older," but it really doesn't matter in the end (no pun intended) does it.

My observation is that as people get "older" they begin to look forward to their next birthday, much like we did when we were kids. People who reach, let's say, 90, consider that as having reached a milestone that is worthy of dignity and respect. So why wouldn't one want to get to ninety? Birthdays at that age often become times of family celebrations and get-togethers, celebrating the life of the birthday girl/boy.

How many birthdays do you want to have? I've been asked that question many times, and my answer is that my father lived to be 90 and my only brother lived to be 90, so 90 sounds like a good number. But somehow my opinion doesn't really matter, does it? My life is in the Lord's hands and I will live until He calls me home to be with Him. Whenever that time comes, I'm ready to meet Him in glory. Are you?

Pilgrim on the way