God Working Through Birthdays

Today's our older son's birthday. He's six years old today. I thought I'd blog today about how neglected I feel in the birthday celebration. Every time I launch into my routine ("I remember what I was doing this time six years ago...my mom came over...hospital...contractions...the nurses...blah blah blah"), I get the Look. The look that says "Mommy, my birthday is about me, not YOU".

I think God uses our children's birthdays to conform us to be more like Him. My son has no idea what I went through just to give him birth. But the celebration today is all about him. And that's the way I like for it to be - I love him so much. It's wonderful to celebrate him (one day out of the year, that is - it wouldn't do to let him become THAT self-absorbed). God does all the work to bring us into the Family, but as youngsters in the faith, we make it "all about us". He doesn't mind our childishness, even though He wants us to mature. Because He loves us so much. He enjoys giving us great blessings, even when we downplay what He's done for us. Maybe as parents, God gives us a chance every time our children have a birthday to lose a little bit more of that ungodly self-centeredness.

So today God is reminding me what He has done for me (it's really all about Him), and now I'm going to have a great time celebrating a birthday. After I make my son some pancakes and clean up the mess.