Celebration in Honor of one of God's Children -- My Dad

Day 14
Yesterday was a very special day for me. Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday! But it wasn’t really my birthday. Every year for the past 11 years I have celebrated my birthday on September 17th even though my actual birthday is December 31st. When my dad passed away 11 years ago, being a daddy’s girl, I was so heartbroken I could hardly bear it. And even though I knew that I would always miss my dad, I had this crazy idea that he would be forgotten. So to make sure that didn’t happen, I decided to celebrate my birthday on what was really his birthday, September 17th. As a child I always complained about my birthday being so close to Christmas and New Year’s because it never seemed special. Yes, I was completely spoiled and so indulgent. I mean, who complains about a birthday? So this seemed like a perfect way to ‘reschedule’ my birthday and deal with my grief over the passing of my dad. As it turned out, no one in the family participates in my ‘rescheduling’ except my mom and my younger brother Preston. Everyone else in the family rolls their eyes at me and reminds me how spoiled I am and that no one in their right mind thinks they can change their birthday. But, I did it anyway and if Mom agrees, since she had a big part in bringing me into the world, then it must be OK. Yesterday, my mom came to the office and brought food, cake, decorations, the whole works. We had a fabulous time here at the office with all the ladies and my mom. I had a great birthday!

But I also remembered why I did this. I didn’t want myself or anyone else to forget that this was really my dad’s special day. 1 Corinthians 1:9 tells us that ‘God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’ It reminds me that God is faithful to heal our heartache and to fill all voids that are left with the passing of a loved one. Even though I miss my dad, I don’t grieve over him because I know he is walking daily with the Lord and he knows no suffering. I still have lots of fun with the adopted birthday and all the ribbing I get from everyone about it but my dad will not be forgotten and I will not forget the comfort that the Lord gave me during one of the saddest times of my life. I can’t help but believe that the Lord and my dad were both smiling yesterday as we celebrated a special day in remembrance of one of His children.