My wife has a birthday in June, and let's say I purchase two gifts for her per year; one for her birthday, and one for Christmas. (My wife loves gifts, so I would never get away with that, but let's pretend.) That makes two gifts per calendar.
I have a December birthday, so I get a larger gift, valued at 1.5, with the disclaimer "This is for your birthday AND Christmas." It's how one would say, "This gift is HUGE, so don't expect more."
Wait a minute! I just got duped out of half a gift! Sure, this seems bigger, but let's look at the whole picture here...I enjoy making jokes about this phenomenon, it's a fun cliche to bring up every year, but in reality, I am always humbled when someone gives me a gift, and I don't expect anything. I think giving gifts is a glorious thing, and I would NEVER belittle someone's gift--unless, of course, I can make a joke of it. If there's one thing I'm willing to lose my soul over, it's good humor. Well, maybe if there is financial gain... But listen, If I'm not making money or making people laugh, I always stick to my moral values.
Where was I...
This year, I made a joke in front of some friends about having a December birthday. One friend decided to plan a weekend getaway, and it was very thoughtful and I'm glad for the attempt, but it fell apart. Both couples cancelled and we ended realizing Thursday night that we had no plans for my birthday weekend. My wife even took vacation days at work and I had made arrangements to leave the office early on Friday. I don't blame anyone, but let's be honest, that sucks. I had been looking forward to the weekend for a month and it fell apart the day before. I "let it go," as is popular these days, and chalked it up to the curse of the December birthday.
But wait... (You have to say this like Rumpelstiltskin on "Once Upon A Time." Yes, even with the hand gestures. If this reference is over your head, my heart aches for you.)
My thoughtful, serving, beautiful, totes-adorbs-OMG-fab-for-sure wife, wasn't going to let the weekend go to waste (like her hard-earned vacation hours had). I'm not sure how much effort it took on her part to get everything together last minute, but I imagine it wasn't easy. She told me to be home at 5 Friday; that we were going to Three Rivers. "Oh cool, maybe we are getting in the hot tub, that's always nice." NOPE! We walked into her Brother's house and there was a miniature surprise party! My nieces even put up streamers and balloons with printed cut-outs from Star Wars coloring books. (Yes, I am SO geeked about the new trailer!) They had gotten me some gifts that were funny and thoughtful, and my wife had also gotten me some gifts! The final package..... THE STAR WARS TRILOGY ON BLU-RAY!!!! So much awesome. So. Much.
She even said she would watch them with me. Woah.
Last night, we went to our friends' house and watched the fourth episode. For my birthday weekend, I had the privilege of introducing THREE people to Star Wars! Tonight is even better, we will watch The Empire Strikes Back ON MY BIRTHDAY!! (My favorite episode by the way.)
Today has been great, it's actually been a really great day. I rolled out of bed, cracked a brew and jumped in the shower, (hold on now... don't you dare judge me, it's my birthday.) and grabbed Taco Bell for breakfast. YUP! I wanted my birthday breakfast to be Taco Bell. We went to church and I was just overwhelmed with how genuine people were when wishing me happy birthday. A friend of mine gave me a book on a subject that I have been caught up in while trying to divide the word. (that's Christian for, "trying to understand it.") It was very thoughtful.. you know.. for a book.. ("Oh, thanks, you gave me homework as a gift...")
I don't know if all of that sharing was necessary, I am just trying to set the stage to say that I am SO thankful for all the blessings in my life. It's absolutely ridiculous that God chose me as one of his people, and not only did he choose me, but he continues to bless me on top of that. I don't deserve any of it--I mean, really, ask my wife. Year 25 was not all peaches and rainbows. One of my rental units had a kitchen fire, I spent many hours preparing for, and representing myself in a court room, and then I spent countless late hours restoring that unit to a usable condition. During that time, it was rough, but I learned a lot of good lessons. Overall, I am grateful for that too.
When I look at everything God has done for me, I am overwhelmed. Sometimes when I am driving home after work, I think about this. Quite literally, I have so much joy, that it's almost uncomfortable. I am at 120% joy, you guys. I am over-flowing. It gets weird. About a month ago, I teared up at how complicated enzymes are--THAT WAS CREATED! I don't even understand those things! God loved us so much that he made these tiny little things that take food and turn it into energy, and then with that energy you get hurt and those tiny magical things use food to heal you... FOOD THAT MAGICALLY APPEARS OUT OF DIRT!! My brain begins to implode when I try to figure out how enzymes work. God uses enzymes to make energy out of food, then your muscles and eyes use that energy to put a key in a lock. THINK ABOUT HOW CRAZY THAT IS!!! You can take a tiny piece of metal and line it up with a target with a tolerance of like half a millimeter in one fluid motion! Try getting a robot to do that as quickly as we can! Do you understand how many lines of programming, not to mention, advancement of hardware, that would take!? Me neither!! I can't even figure out how to win a stuffed rabbit in the crane game!
WOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
God allows us so much joy it can make our head explode, but then he doesn't let it explode, because he loves us! God is so great, you guys. Just like my wonderful wife redeemed this weekend, God redeemed a train-wreck like yours truly.
This year I just want to share my joy. I don't really know what that will look like, but I'm excited. I want to love on other people, I want to learn about them, I want to feel with them, I want to give more. I want to give more financially, I want to give more emotionally, I want to give more of my time to help others to find the joy that I have. I hope that I can please God, and I hope that I can be apart of bringing others to his kingdom.
How great it is to have another year.
Cheers.
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