And birthdays have always been a big deal
in our family. We grew up (even though we
did not have a lot of money) celebrating each other well. Birthdays were important. I have some wonderful memories of taking friends
and going to Chickasaw State Park! One year there was a sleepover with friends. My sisters have birthdays four days apart, just before Halloween, and they had a yearly birthday celebration where everybody they knew came
to our yard on Halloween and had the biggest shaving cream fight ever! And every single year we had a party with relatives and a birthday cake. Our grandmother would make our favorite cake for us. Candles were always hilarious. Inevitably we would get to the cake time and have forgotten the candles (or lost them) and so someone would show up with some big fat candle or taper candle lit for the birthday person to blow out. We would sing and laugh and blow out the candle.
I think, as a culture we do pretty well celebrating others. We have-for the most part-become considerate of others and how we can let them know we care. There are special holidays for every single person, place or thing on the planet. Hallmark has a card for everything.
But I am concerned that we have missed one person in all of our celebrating. Today is a day to celebrate you! We have become more comfortable, as a culture, celebrating one another. You have a close friend-you spend time thinking about how you can show them how much you appreciate them. It is not hard to think of things or ways to show your love. You have a spouse-you may always be on the lookout for ways to bless them and celebrate them. But today is a new day! It is your day!
Growing up in the Bible Belt, I do not even know when I learned the scripture that says, "This is the first and greatest command, love the Lord you God with all you heart and soul and mind and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself." But it hasn't been until recently that part of that verse has been pointed out to me. We know we are to love the Lord. We understand the "love our neighbor" part, although we don't always like it. But the very last part has been overlooked. It says we are to "Love our neighbor AS OURSELVES." This presupposes that we love ourselves. In fact we are supposed to love ourselves first so that we CAN love our neighbor. Amazing!
The fact is God made each and everyone of us. We were not thrown on a conveyor belt in a factory to come out just like everyone else. God considered what He had in mind for us when He fashioned us with his own hands. It says He "knew us in our mother's womb." The Bible says that he dearly loves each one of us. He has "plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future." We are so loved by God that he gave his Son on our behalf so that we could be in a relationship with Him. We have become his children and not only that but he has made us "joint-heirs" with Jesus Christ. That is crazy-good news.
So why do we have a hard time celebrating ourselves? We cringe when we look in the mirror. We say the harshest things about ourselves-or at the very least think them. We beat ourselves up for past mistakes (and current ones). We hide behind false humility and somehow thing better of ourselves for slamming ourselves and wallowing in the mud. All that false humility does is call more attention to ourselves and gives us pride that we are thinking less of ourselves and more of others.
The fact is God our Father did not do all that He did so that we can abuse what He bought at such a high price. He loves you! He loves YOU! He says that YOU are the apple of his eye. I say "you" when I could say "we" because sometimes we understand God loves those around us but we miss the part that He sees us individually too. And He wants us to begin to see ourselves as He sees us. It is ok to believe what He says about us. He told Joshua that he was "strong and courageous" when Joshua probably felt weak, incapable, and afraid. But we can trust Him to speak the truth. And we can believe what He says.
So how will you start today? How will you celebrate you? God is celebrating you right now. Why don't you just join Him. He is proud of you and He believes that you can do far more that you even think you are capable of doing. Some workaholics may need to celebrate by resting. Maybe today is hard and it seems impossible to carve out time. Do not be discouraged. Start with baby steps if you need to. Choose a special mug for your coffee and enjoy a little time. How about complimenting yourself to yourself. Tell the enemy who is spitting out lies about you to go away and shut up. Refuse to listen to him anymore because he is a loser. Count your blessings. Sing your favorite song. Go to a place you really enjoy. Wherever you are just know that it is ok to celebrate you because you are a beautiful creation and you are truly are worth celebrating!
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