The Birthday Challenge--What Will You Do?

Christmas and birthdays have always coincided in our family. One of the funniest things about Christmas birthdays is that birthday cards trickle in from the beginning of month to the New Year along with Christmas cards.  As the "Family Circus" cartoon shared this week when the little boy looked at the calendar and saw that his friend's birthday fell on the 26 of December. He said, "He just missed being Jesus."  We all missed that mark, but it made me smile at his innocence.

As adults we understand why our birthday gifts were wrapped in Christmas paper, and why birthday parties during the holiday season are rare. This year a SURPRISE greeted me at the door. An opened door revealed two friends, standing in the door way holding this note:

Two friends presented me with this Happy Birthday message, chocolate mousse cake, birthday cards both sweet and naughty, and a gift of teas for my BIRTH-TEA. Before I knew what happened we were singing, laughing, and wiping chocolate off our faces like little children. 

Kim Stone, Letty, Beth Brown

Tears trickled down my face as I laughed. My friends had gone out of their way to make the moment special for me. My heart was filled with love and happiness. Thank you, dear friends, for sharing your time with us. 

More often during the holidays Jack and I enjoy sitting quietly, reading, watching birds out the windows, and playing with Murphy Doodle. Winter solitude fills my soul with peace and a deep sense of gratitude for the world around me. I make time to relax and listen to the morning chirps of the robins after sunrise. 

This week I read the sweetest reflection on sisterhood. It did all I asked of a book. It made me smile, laugh, and think. 

Challenges are something we all face and learn from. This story shares my challenge to each of us in the coming year. Barbara Piece Bush, and her sister Jenna Bush Hager together with others founded the Global Health Corps in 2009. Their mission to develop a generation of leaders committed to realizing health as a human right across the globe. In their book Sisters First (2017. Grand Central Publishing, p. 234) Barbara describes a memory that has stayed near to heart about a child living in Burundian.

Alida grew up with several brothers and sisters; many of them were the children of friends that her parents had taken in during hears of bloody civil war. They treated all children equally, regardless of whether they were related. On birthdays in her family, rather than being showered with presents and treated as someone special, you were asked to make a case of why, in the previous year, you had lived the best year that you could. You did get a cake, but first you had to share what you had done for other people and how you had contributed. 

I was struck, she continued, by the profound idea, even for little kids--the concept that you needed to make a case that you were living life in a way that was worth it, in a way that was giving to others. You are here for a reason, and you should be grateful for every year, and be ready to do the most with the next one.

This story humbled me greatly and yet filled my heart with hope and respect for those who make a huge difference in our world. I thank all  the people who share their lives with the less fortunate. Reflecting on what I might have done in the previous year helped me clear my head and heart. I hadn't lived up to a worldwide standard but I had stepped in and helped others. 

As my new year continues, I will keep this thought in my mind, "I am here for a reason and will do my best to help our community be a better place to live and show respect for others." A plan of action will follow this. 

What will you do?