Today Is My Birthday.
Today is my birthday. Today, I was born.
Well, not literally today. What I mean is, today is my birthday; way back a while ago – many moons ago – I was born.
As I write, my body is now finishing it’s 46th year of life.
Breathing, walking, beating, thinking, moving, eating, drinking, trusting, fearing, loving, parenting, laughing, singing, wondering, seeing, hearing, touching, talking life.
My First Breath.
I am reflecting on this same day, all those years ago, when I first took a breath of earth’s air.
Air. What a strange concept. I lived in my mother’s womb for nine months, fed by an umbilical cord connecting me to her resources, and immersed in liquid. A fish with a straw. That’s what I was. Only the straw wasn’t in my mouth; it was in my belly. How crazy is that. A fish, with a straw, in it’s belly, connected to it’s mommy. What a strange idea.
No, I was much more than a fish with a straw in its belly.
I was Creation. Carbon plus Hydrogen plus Oxygen plus myriad other elements. But not only that.
The elements were joined by something unseen, but no less real.
The breath of life. The life of God. The God of the cosmos. The cosmos of God.
An entire universe in a little, soft package. A universe with design. With consciousness. With meaning.
A human being. Silver soul mingled with crimson and carbon. Spirit and blood, water and flesh. Eyes opening, perceiving. Lips pursing and kissing. Ears hearing and waiting. Hands opening and fingers stretching.
All the little stretches, all the little struggles said – “I am alive.”
The Story In Which I Find Myself.
I’m reminded on this, my birthday, of a favorite passage in the book of Psalms from the Bible.
Psalm 139:13-18
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
I Was Made By God.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I am not ordinary. I am extraordinary. I was fashioned and designed by more than random evolution. I was made with intention and thought. Effort met love met art met majesty.
Those I love need to know me. Those I don’t love yet need to know me. It’s important for them to touch me, hear me, grow with me, cry with me, laugh with me. My design is not their design. We share a universe outside of us, but we perceive it differently because of the unique universe within each one of us.
I Am A Beautiful Gift.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Stand in awe (apparently) in light of who I am. Relax; that’s not my ego talking. That’s the verse above talking. I am “fearfully” made. Wonderfully, in fact – like a supernova or a circus imaginarium. No, wait. Not like them. I have the breath of life. That’s quite, quite different I think. Stand in awe. Be in shock. Step back, take it in. Yes, I am a sign and a wonder. You’ll have to speak louder for me to hear you over the sound of my awesomeness. Now, you may awake from your fainting spell.
Actually, I know my place in the story. I’m not the big point, but I am a little one. One of the points, in Story that surrounds us all. As we meet, your story (and mine) will change. I choose for your story to be better because you’ve met me. I am a beautiful gift; I want you to be excited when you touch that gift.
I Am Known.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Loneliness comes from a deep, foreboding sense that no one truly “knows” you. There is isolation. There is distance. There is a lack of recognition by another.
I will never be lonely. I am known. If I was on a desert island, or thrust into the farthest vacuum of space, I would still be known.
I will never be lonely.
My Life Has Meaning And Purpose.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Days were ordained for me. Purposed for me. Intended for me to live within them. This agenda, this schedule, was known. Known of. Known about. Known in a way that means my presence within these moments, minutes, hours, days, years, lifetime is not random. Accidental. Oops.
No. My life has meaning and purpose. I was meant to be here. I was meant to smile at you. I was meant to breath, and my heart to beat.
Welcome to the world we share – a life full of meaning from start to finish.
I Remain In The Thoughts Of God.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18a Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand….
Here’s the beautiful part. I was not born, then left to live on my own. I am in the thoughts of God. Today, I wake up to You who have been thinking of me every moment of my life. Today, in fact, I am in your thoughts. So many thoughts.
What did you think the moment I made my first real decision? What did you think when I first thought of You, out loud and on the air? What did you think when I gave my heart to You? What did You think? What do You think of my life today? This moment? What do You think?
Today Is My Birthday; I Am With You.
18b…When I awake, I am still with you.
Today is my birthday, and I am with You. Nothing will ever, ever change that. As I remember my birth today, I will remember that I am awake, alive, in Your hands.
Your Story is my story, our story, and to live it large is my greatest dream.
Today is my birthday. Thank you for bringing me to life.