A precious Persian woman recently attended the Stations of the Cross at our church. It’s a moving and powerful experience. Two of our staff ladies were working at the exit door, and several Persian women came out of Stations and stood along the wall. One woman, all smiles, came up to the staff ladies and said, “Happy Birthday!” Since she was with her Friends International group and did not know English very well, they knew that she meant Happy Easter. So they decided to go with it and wished her a big “happy birthday” right back. After all, it is because He was born, died, and rose again that any of us has a happy birthday, especially an eternal one.
Another of the women with this precious lady, kissed her fingertips and began touching the portrait of Jesus all over. They peered around to see what she was doing and, as it turns out, she was kissing each of His wounds.
There are just some things that you never forget. Unforgettable days that take your breath away, and days that the wounds seem like they will never heal. Days that the sky is so blue there is no color match on the Sherwin-Williams color palette. Days when your kids surprise you with being kind and tender to someone in need. Days when your spouse looks so beautiful/handsome you ask, “Why did she/he pick me?” A day when your birthday couldn’t get any better. And, THE day when you asked the Lord to come and live inside your heart and change your life in ways so unexplainable … a rebirth. Now, that’s a birthday!
Have a beautiful day and . . . “happy birthday!”
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 55:3 NIV