Birthdays

Mary’s Monday Musings

Birthdays

            I remember a lot of birthdays. One from my childhood stands out.  It wasn’t the one we planned and I expected, but I remember it well. Each year, the fact my birthday fell smack in the middle of the ragweed season was a major inconvenience to celebrating. Sniffling, sneezing, and itching eyes often made me feel less than cheerful. Just before I turned 10, my pesky childhood asthma flared up. After a particularly vicious attack, I finally fell asleep only to awake and find my desperate parents had packed our suitcases and plumped a pillow in the back seat of the car for a crack-of-dawn escape to an area free of ragweed. We drove to a lake in northern Michigan where the pollen count was low. I remember it as an idyllic time. Instead of a party, I swam in the lake, played lots of card and board games with my parents who provided a birthday cake and presents to create a happy birthday in spite of the sudden change of plans. My parents rescued me from the noxious weeds that plagued me and whisked me off to a safer more comfortable place.

 

Jesus’ birthday is reason for a grand and glad celebration. His birthday was the beginning of God’s plan to whisk us away from the noxious consequences of our sinful natures in exchange for a heavenly future with Him in spite of our fallen nature. This Christmas, let’s take time while we prepare for a joyful holiday to thank Jesus for his willingness to come to earth in the form of a helpless baby and to ultimately die in order that, imperfect as we are, we can be restored to our merciful God. With every gift we wrap, every decoration we install, every card we address, breathe a prayer of thanks for the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.