This past Thursday, I celebrated my 73rd birthday. And as some of you know, that same day was the 15th anniversary of writing Transitions by The Book. Normally, birthdays come and go but this year was a little different. First of all, I couldn’t believe all the greetings I received on FaceBook. There must have been 75 or more folks who wished me a Happy Birthday! Now that may not be unusual for many of you, but it was a first for me.
I heard from the usual crowd that I knew from my school days, all the way back to kindergarten in some cases. And folks I met and taught in the corporate world up to 40 years ago. The last several years I have been very intentional about paying attention to FaceBook friends who are having special days or events and it is a rare day that I don’t have notifications about birthdays that are being celebrated that day. I honestly believe that recognizing those folks and wishing them a wonderful year full of blessings has come back to me this year with so many greetings that I received.
Aside from that remarkable occurrence this year, I decided to do something I have never done before. I made a conscious decision to extend my celebration through this weekend. Don’t get me wrong – my actual birthday was great – it just wasn’t long enough to appreciate all the blessings I was receiving.
When I look at my life, I just can’t believe how blessed I am. I have a great marriage with Janet (53 years this summer), we have three wonderful children and four grandsons who complete our little tribe. We are a very close family – and that is another blessing that many people don’t experience. When Janet and I were in our early twenties, we made a decision to have our children while we were still rather young. We wanted to grow old with our kids and that has been one of the greatest blessings that we could ever hope for.
I didn’t think that much about it when Janet and I were just starting out, but throughout the years it has proven time and again to be the right choice for us. Not only that, but we already have grandchildren finishing college and I don’t know that we ever thought about the longer terms blessings that we would have based on our earlier life decisions.
While I am selectively limiting my corporate consulting and other business related activities, I have a full calendar with teaching Bible classes, studying Scripture and following several professors who continue to help me with my study of the original languages. And, of course, I love continuing to write these posts twice a week. In fact, I am so busy that I don’t know how I ever had time to earn a living! That is another blessing that Janet and I have.
I am filled with gratitude for all the things God has blessed our family with. We don’t take any of that for granted. And, we are children of God, the most important part of our earthly existence. I’m not the only one who is blessed. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is just as blessed as we are. Blessings come in many different forms – and those blessings will come in accordance with God’s will for each of our lives.
Our verse for tonight comes from the apostle Paul’s letter to his church as Ephesus. That church was the most theologically mature church that Paul had started and he delighted in going deeper with his theology when addressing the Ephesians. Paul, in his epistle to this church, tells them, and us, in Ephesians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Notice that this is the third verse in his letter. It’s part of Paul’s greeting and it’s so fundamental to know and understand that Paul includes it right up front.
My encouragement this evening is that we are each blessed as children of God. There is no greater blessing that knowing that we will spend eternity with the Lord in heaven. My prayer is that each of us may become more aware of the blessings that are bestowed on us each day – and recognize that they will continue to rain down on us throughout all eternity. We just have to be watching for them! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…