Birthdays

As I lay in my bed this morning, futilely trying to get back to sleep, I heard the sounds of my younger brothers playing their new video game. And that has absolutely nothing to do with this post at all, except for maybe the fact that being awake in the early hours gave me some time to do some reflecting. As most of you know, today is my birthday, so naturally what I thought about was the nature of birthdays.

Why do we celebrate birthdays? In all honesty, it seems to be sort of a celebration of your approaching death. "Yay, you've lived another year," we seem to say, "statistically, you just moved closer to dying!" Isn't that a happy thought? It would be one thing if what we were celebrating was the actual day of your birth, but we keep track of the years it's been since you were born, suggesting that the actual reason has nothing to do with commemorating your life. We don't, after all, keep track of how many years it's been and celebrate the 2010th birthday of Christ on Christmas. No, instead we commemorate the actual events of his birth and what that birth means to us. We remember all that He has done for us, the greatest, of course, being his atonement for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross atop Golgotha, and in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. All that was possible due to his birth, and so we celebrate it each year. DIGRESSION ALERT: This year, I have discovered a problem with some of the hymns we have. For example, "Silent Night" and "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth." They're great songs, and I love the spirit they bring, but the words seem flawed to me. What is "silent" or "humble" about a multitude of angels coming down and singing praises to announce your birth? Yes, he was born in a stable, but come on he had a MULTITUDE OF ANGELS. That sounds pretty sweet to me. Anyway, I still love those hymns and this doesn't change that; just something I thought of in the last couple of weeks. END OF DIGRESSION. However, the way we celebrate birthdays doesn't seem to reflect the same kind of joyous gratitude for the life of the person that Christmas does.

Of course, there is the practical reason for counting years since birth. Age is a very objective way of measuring growth. It may not be the most accurate way, but in a large system, it is the most convenient and does have some measure of accuracy. But the practical explanation isn't sufficient for why we make such a big deal of birthdays. There is more to it, and I might have stumbled upon it in my rambling thoughts this morning in my bed. We don't keep track of how many years it's been to suggest how many years they have left, or to measure maturity. The real reason, I think, is to remind us all of how much time we have had with that person to be grateful for them. It is not really a celebration about your birth at all, but rather a convenient method of celebrating your relationship with people. Some will have known you for all your life, since the minute you were born and before. Some may only just now be getting to know you. But all are reflecting on the time that you have spent together and how great it is to know you. Remember that on your birthdays, because that is truly what it is all about.