Happy Birthday!

My little granddaughter’s birthday is coming up. She will be two. I think I will get her a Pillow Pet. Since she can’t read, I can write this. If I order it online, I won’t have to mail it.

Why do we celebrate birthdays? To mark the momentous occasion when a precious new personality was born into our lives, packed with potential and endless possibilities. Someone said, “Babies are proof that God wants the world to continue.” And how we celebrate when that new life comes into the world! Surely it is a reflection of the celebration in Heaven when a soul is born again!

We are assured in scripture that God thinks of us even in our mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13-18 says, “…Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret… Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written…when as yet there was none of them. How precious are they thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake I am still with thee.”

Little Maddie’s days were planned before she was even born. Her trips to the zoo, riding on the train in the park, wearing her tutu around the house, singing and dancing in worship time, tasting new foods, playing with her sister--all are orchestrated by God, not to mention the wonderful things He has planned for her future.

So we give gifts to show our love and appreciation and support of the marvelous gift of a child. After all, she is part of us--my mother’s red hair (and maybe even her temperament), her mother’s smile and so much more. Maddie loves soft and cuddly things, always reaching for her blanket for comfort, expertly tossing it onto the floor in an inviting heap and dropping down upon it, her two fingers in her mouth. Enjoying its familiar warmth and fingering its satiny edge when she goes to sleep, she can rest assured, “When I awake, I’m still with Thee.” Happy Birthday, Maddie. I think she will like her Pillow Pet.