Part 1 - Reasons to celebrate

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of blessings, challenges and many moments of joy … they have been full of a lot all at once but truly, a string of bright days full of amazing experiences with wonderful people I am blessed to call family and friends. 

Yesterday morning I woke with a heart full of joy with the sense of excitement in the air at the day about to be embraced. I was laying in bed the night before, already thinking about the year and how fast it had flew by. As I get older, the years move quicker so it seems; which is a common feeling. Why is that? We don't shorten the weeks or turn forward our clocks each day but rather my guess is we might not stop to enjoy the moment we are in enough so life speeds on by and another year we grow older!!

Yesterday was my birthday which most of you are aware, as I woke to a full inbox with very sweet messages from around the world. Thank you kindly to you all, I have been touched by each and everyone of your birthday messages. Thank you, I love you all so dearly. 

My day started by my normal tradition of having marmalade toast and a cuppa to feed and warm the soul. Also embrace the sisters with their wonderful messages of love and wishes to mark the day. Sitting at the breakfast table been greeted with a special blessing written for my birth-day with messages of love on it from all the sisters it reminded me how the Lord works in amazing ways. 

After breakfast, I retreated for a bit of spiritual feeding before talking to my loved ones. Lately, I have been taken by the Psalms, eager to read, pray with them and let their words that sound like harmonized lyrics float around me - naturally I turned to the Psalms for some feeding… 

Leading me to Psalm 139!! Reminding me so graciously that my birthday isn't really about me ;o) 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother's body, When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in  your book before I was one day old. 

When I was younger I was aware of the importance birthdays had in my family; like any non-religious family, birthdays are a rather large celebration. After all, if you take away christmas, easter, all the feast days and any days with religious connection what do you have…. a lot of public holidays with no reason to celebrate. Therefore, birthdays are is that day!! 

Over the years through a mixture of experience, knowledge, change in understanding, the meaning of the day has changed dramatically. When younger before I joined the church, it was a day I was entitled to, a day to be spoilt, to be selfish in a sense, which was in part encouraged with special celebrations. After a few years in high school I realized that the day is not about me at all! 

I was always so eager to go to church to give thanks, after all the day is a reminder that the Lord created me, and protects me day after day. As Psalm 139 reminds me he has ordained my days and brought them to pass. 

To think that many in my generation and the next never made it out of the womb, let alone into their 30's is enough to bend to my knees to give thanks. I recall a lecture at university saying once that our chance of being alive is less than the chance of us winning every single lotto in the world. What a thought!! 

Yet on this day, in this moment reading the Psalm, I realized just how much he has given me. He has given me (all of us) a gift that is so great our small human hearts and minds struggle to grip onto it. The beauty of the Lords grace and forgiveness is that we can open our hearts to Him and ask Him to come inside, revealing and allowing the Lord to examine the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts. Apart of me, like others, has a little fear in this, been vulnerable, exposed, trying to cover parts of myself I am not proud of or wish to acknowledge, own my faults. Yet what a moment when not only the head but the heart realizes that actually the Lord wants an open book, he wants us to be 'naked' before him after all we are given his gifts so can be confident that his grace, mercy, love is greater than any of my sin. 

Leaving me to connect in with David, realizing what faith He had, what confidence He had in the Lord…. more than this though what a beautiful sight he would have witnessed, what many blessings were given because of this!! - "Lord, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any bad thing in me. Lead me on the road to everlasting life"

After spending time with Psalm left me with a heart full of joy at the gifts that I am given, not just on this day of celebration, yet every single day. This in itself is a reason to celebrate in thanks… How Blessed I am, Thank you Lord