{"id":881,"date":"2017-07-26T11:07:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/birthdays-really-matter\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:10:26","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:10:26","slug":"birthdays-really-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=881","title":{"rendered":"Birthdays Really Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019m heading back home today after several days of celebrating my son\u2019s birthday with his entire family. How precious for me to be able to be there for all the festivities and moments of sheer awesomeness. And, what a joy for me to be able to hang with the older kids because our sleeping arrangements were in a beautiful 2-bedroom suite overlooking this incredible heaven-on-earth place. I like to think that God gave my kids a heart for including this mama and it sure brings me so much joy. <\/p>\n

Our family is BIG on birthdays, and while it may sound child-like to make such a big deal about birthdays, it really shouldn\u2019t, because birthdays mean we made it through another year, and we’re still here for a reason. That should be a BIG DEAL to us!<\/p>\n

I heard someone say \u201cI\u2019m not having any more birthdays. In fact, I don\u2019t even know how old I am anymore.\u201d And I quickly replied, \u201cGoodness gracious, I’m thrilled to celebrate my birthday. It means I made it through another year.” I heard Christine Caine’s remarks about birthdays. She said, “The older we get, we downplay having another birthday. We don’t want any ‘big deals’ or ANY attention given to us having another birthday. How silly it is to throw a gigantic, blow-out of a birthday for a one-year old. What has a one year old done to deserve that birthday? Those who have been here for half a century and more are the ones to be celebrated. For goodness sakes, every year that we’re still here, we deserve fireworks, celebrations, recognition and tributes….. because we EARNED this birthday and every other birthday! We made it another year.”<\/p>\n

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I remember anticipating my birthdays as a child. As children, we counted down, waited and planned for our birthdays. We wanted special themes: Princess, Super Heroes, Fishing & Hunting, Football, Basketball, etc. We treasured the people who made our birthdays special, the grandmother (me) who created a treasure hunt trail of rhyming notes that led to the grand finale \u2013 supremo birthday gift. We were stoked that our friends came bearing gifts and shared our yummy cake, and we loved making a wish and blowing out the candles with just one huge breath.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear \u2013 it\u2019s not as much about the presents, as it is of the PRESENCE of those who love us and make us feel\u2026..\u201dI am special\u201d. Here\u2019s the real crux of the matter: No matter who you are or whether or not you had an ideal family life, you always were and always will be a treasure, and on your birthday, you get to rock that truth.<\/p>\n

Birthdays say, \u201cYou\u2019re special!\u201d That\u2019s what we do with the red \u201cspecial plate\u201d for the birthday guy or girl and we take turning sharing why they are special to us. Birthdays say, \u201cHey, you, you\u2019re great! I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re in my life.\u201d And that\u2019s why birthdays are a big deal \u2013 because birthdays represent our God-given mission and destiny and every year that we\u2019re here, we get to celebrate our journey.<\/p>\n

And with each year…..we have the opportunity to celebrate — not for just THE day, but EACH day that God gives us. Celebrating it with a merry heart, a glad heart, a thankful heart, a forgiving heart, a heart open to the abundance of God’s love and bringing forth fruit, being vigorous and flourishing.<\/p>\n

I have a dear friend who doesn’t wait for someone to throw her a party. She throws a birthday bash for herself, and she invites us all to join her for her BIG DAY. I love that. She knows she is special to us, so, of course, we celebrate her.<\/p>\n

So, today, whether you or 15, 50 or 95…..you are to be celebrated. You’re still bearing fruit. You’re still here….you’re not done!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m heading back home today after several days of celebrating my son\u2019s birthday with his entire family. How precious for me to be able to be there for all the festivities and moments of sheer awesomeness. And, what a joy for me to be able to hang with the older kids because our sleeping arrangements…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1807,156,5283,5284,838,2778,5285,1610,5286,5287,5288],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bearing-fruit","tag-birthday","tag-birthday-party","tag-celebrated","tag-celebration","tag-child-like","tag-christine-caine","tag-special-plate","tag-you-are-special","tag-youre-not-done","tag-youre-still-here"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7079,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions\/7079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}