How do you celebrate your birthday?

24 years ago…I was born. 24 years of pain, joy, failures, and success. Birthdays have never been a big deal to me, but I’m starting to question....why not?

Birthdays are celebrated in a million different ways. Some have birthweeks, a weeklong celebration of their birth. Others throw extravagant parties (ever seen My Super Sweet 16?). Yet others, like myself, play it cool like it’s nothing huge.

But why shouldn’t birthdays be a bigger deal?

Why shouldn’t we celebrate every year with which we’re blessed?

Why shouldn’t we thank God for the abundant lives for which we were created?

I believe it may because we downplay our importance here on earth. We forget that God has chosen us, and only us, for the plan he has set for our lives. We forget that God, the creator of all things, lives INSIDE of us through the Holy Spirit. We forget about the gifts God has given us, by focusing on those which he has not.

Obviously, we have reason to celebrate. The question remains…will we?

Bad Day?

Have you ever just had an off-day?

Just one of these days where everything just seemed…not right?

The sucky thing is…that’s life. We’re going to have these days we just can’t connect. We’re going to have these days where our intestines just won’t mesh. We’re going to have these days we feel like life has given us a huge right-handed hook across the face.

But these days don’t define us.

Too often, we beat ourselves up for the off-days. We begin to label ourselves by the missed cues, the missed connections, and the missed assignments. We fool ourselves into thinking we’re some sort of failure.

But these days don’t define us.

A knowledgeable individual once said, “Every day is a new life to a wise man.” Let us then concentrate on the newness of tomorrow…on the opportunities to connect, the opportunities to lead, and the opportunities to succeed.

Forget about yesterday, for it is gone. Tomorrow, however, is a new day.

What do you want tomorrow to look like?

What are we doing?

What are we doing with our lives?

Are we tied up in busyness…work and school from 8 to 5, soccer practice from 5 to 6, dinner from 6 to 7, and then maybe an hour or two to catch The Office and to bed? What…to wake up the next day and do the same thing?

Is this really what life is supposed to be like?

We have to begin making intentional choices of what we’re going to do with our time. If we want to be an artist, paint. If we want to be a writer, then start writing. If we want more time with family and with God, then stop choosing not to spend more time with family and with God.

Our life is what we choose it to be.

Life is about choices every minute of the day. Choice after choice; day after day; piled one upon the other.

What are you doing with your life?

The choice is yours.