birthday greetings

I Just Realized

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

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So I set a new record for myself: most days lived. Granted, all that was required of me to accomplish this feat was not to die in my sleep or fatally trip over something on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night , both which I manage to avoid most every night.

Today’s my birthday. For the record, I accept all forms of payment: cash, checks, major credit cards, etc. I also have a short birthday list for those of you feeling especially generous. And I mean ESPECIALLY generous.

1) One Mac Book Pro laptop (so I can write better blogs and look infinitely cooler whilst doing so)

2) One red Mini Cooper (preferably with the British flag emblem on the roof and/or side-view mirrors)

And now back to reality.

I’ve been cutting out bread and sugar for the most part, but today I allowed myself to indulge in some rolls and some very fine chocolate malt cheesecake. I figure calories don’t count on your birthday or on other major holidays and special occasions.

I took a short break from my Lent sabbatical from social media, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and all those other wonderful time-suckers, to check up on all my birthday greetings. I had a lot. That made me feel special to know so many amazing people who I can call friends and family. And if you’re reading this and you’re one of the ones who posted on my Facebook page wishing me a happy birthday, then I send my thanks to you as well.

So tomorrow, it’s back to no breads, no sugar, and no social media. At least until Easter Sunday (for the social media). I suppose that by then I will have broken my personal record for most days lived yet again, God willing.

Feelin’ the Love

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I know Facebook can at times be a complete waste of time. I myself have spent too much time in the past growing virtual crops and selling virtual pigs and cows for (unfortunately) virtual profit. But on my birthday, Facebook shows its usefulness. I love each and every time I get a post wishing me a happy birthday. Every one makes me smile and makes my day.

Tonight, at Chick-fil-A, my birthday cake was a brownie with a lit match stuck in it. I loved it. I was feeling the love.

But what about all those facebook friends who didn’t send me birthday greetings? What about all those people out there who aren’t as easy to love? Those who are too broken to love back at all?

If you only are friends with those who friend you back, that’s expected. If you only love those who love you back, there’s nothing special about that. Even those who believe in nothing do that.

But when you love the unloveable, the unloved, and the loveless, you show yourself to be a true follower of Jesus. When you are friends with those people who are outcasts and uncool and misfits, you are loving with the love of Jesus.

When a husband loves his wife because she loves him back or when a friend loves another friend because of what the second friend does for the first, that’s not really love. That’s a contract. You do for me, I do for you. Love is a covenant.

Jesus loved us when we were outcasts, strangers from the Promise, without hope, alienated from God, and broken beyond repair. He didn’t wait until we loved him to love us; He loved us first. He showed us that His love was strong enough to take the most broken parts and make even those whole again.

We really and truly love not when we love out of a need to be loved or recognized. but when we are complete in Christ and filled with His love and that love spills out onto those around us. We really and truly love when our love isn’t feeling or wishing, but acting for the better of the other. When we do everything in our power, regardless of cost, to help the other person be all that Jesus meant for them to be.

I want to love like that. I hope and pray you do, too. I hope we move beyond love as a feeling and choose to love every day, whether we feel like it or not.

By the way, thanks for all the birthday love. If I knew it would be like this, I’d turn 40 every day.