I am hesitant about writing this blog. I don’t want to sound like I am begging for birthday greetings. However, it is my birthday next week. And I love having birthdays! I love getting cards, best wishes and hugs on my special day.

May is a wonderful month to celebrate birthdays. It is usually the real start of Springtime, so winter is moving out the back door. I share my birthday with several wonderful people – my first college roommate, Joy’s Music Minister, and sweet niece Maggie. And today is the Joy Church Mouse’s special day. Best wishes, VV!

Let’s get back to me and my birthday. Everyone likes to feel special on their birthday and I am no exception to that observation. Growing up in a large family, birthdays were the one way to help each child feel the uniqueness and love that God had given them. My mother was a star at this task.

Even with nine children, each one had a home-made cake. It was a rich chocolate cake with buttercream frosting – yum! The cake pan is still in use as my sisters, first Doris and now Janette, regularly bake the special cake for quarterly family birthday celebrations.
Here’s an example of the extent to which my mother would go to recognize our birthdays and to show how much she loved us.  For the first birthday that I was away in college in Vermont, my mother made the special cake and sent it by “Special Delivery”! (Remember that postal service of the olden days?)  It was an overnight delivery from Connecticut and it was dee-licious! My friends were in heaven with home-made birthday cake. I was overjoyed with the feeling of love that accompanied that cake.

I will always remember the extra effort that Mom made to remind me that I was her cherished child. Her example reminds me to recognize the extra effort that our loving God takes to help me feel special and unique. My mother’s love for me is a dim shadow of the overwhelming, unconditional love that God has for me, for you, for all His creations. Let this be your first thought when waking, your last as you end your day and every moment in between.

Happy Birthday to all!”

Terri

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1, NIV)