Blessings on My Birthday
On my sixteenth birthday, it snowed 5 inches. I was all set to take my driver’s test and get my license. I was prepared because in those days you had to take a full semester of driver’s education – half of it was learning the rules of the road and half of it was driving around town with an instructor. To say I was disappointed that my father wouldn’t let me take the test that day is an understatement. It was nearly a week before I was able to take the test and get my license.
As far as I can remember, it has not snowed on my birthday again – until this year on the night before my big day. Fifty-eight years later it came a sleet and freezing rain storm and has shut almost everything down. Freezing temperatures have kept the ice pack on everything making it a virtual ice-skating rink in our area.
You may be wondering why I titled my post as I did – “Blessings on my Birthday.” I want to explain it to you:
- All blessings come from God, and He blesses us daily. Maybe it’s just that you were able to get out of bed this morning, but in some form God has blessed you with another day.
- All seasons are beautiful – the new growth in the Spring, the green trees and flowers in the Summer, the colors of Autumn, and, yes, the beauty of the bare branches and the whiteness of the snow.
- Being able to be in your warm home with those you love on an icy or snowy day will also be a blessing if you try to make it one.
- Even though closed in because of the weather, the ability to still communicate with others on the phone or your computer is most definitely a blessing.
This list could be much longer, but I think this provides some idea of how we should look at what God provides.
I received another great blessing yesterday. On my birthday, while closed in at home, I received hundreds of messages from family, friends, church family and others who are just acquaintances. I received so many that Facebook stopped me from sending a thank you message back to them – so I just sent hearts! These are blessings from God because He has allowed our paths to cross in this life. These people have touched my life and I’ve touched theirs. What a blessing.
God is so good to all of us and wants us to recognize what He has done for us. On my 16th birthday I did not see that beautiful snow as a blessing. I was focused upon what I wanted. Yesterday, even with all of the ice on the ground, I realized that, at 74 years of age, I am a blessed woman. God has allowed me to have a wonderful life and to share it with so many others.
I pray that He knows and those I know in life realize just how much they have blessed me in these 74 years.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)
AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
