My Birthday Wish
At the end of this month, I will turn eighteen.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little freaked out. Although I really can’t see how much different eighteen will be than seventeen. I’ll still be a teenager (which, as we all know, is a nightmare), and all the things that are actually legal for me to do at this age (such as piercings, tattoos, clubbing, etc.), I have no interest in.
My mother was asking me, “What would you like for your birthday?”
I couldn’t think of a single thing. (Well, I thought of a couple things, but nothing that I really, desperately want.) My first thought is, “Wow! All my creativity and my imagination is completely gone! Mom was right! TV did rot my brain!” But then I realized, “Nah, that’s not it. I think I’m just…happy with what I’ve got.” We live in a spoiled country where even those who aren’t well-off pretty much have everything they need. And I’m not going to be the first to complain about it! I’m very, very thankful that I live in such a place.
But, truth be told, there are some things I want for my birthday. But the problem is, money just can’t buy them.
What would I like?
I’d like to be able to grow up properly. To have good judgment, and make wise decisions about life, instead of being so fickle and immature and shallow.
I’d like to stop fretting and worrying about everything. There are simply some things that are beyond my control; I’m glad of that. Because if they’re not in my hands, that means they’re in the far more capable hands of my wise, loving Lord.
I want to stop being such a hypocrite. I want to be genuine, the real thing, so that all who see me will say, “There goes a young lady whose word is good. She always means what she says, and she’ll do what she promises.”
I don’t want to be so selfish and self-focused anymore. I long to have the compassion and love and mercy for people that Jesus displayed (and still displays), instead of always focusing on MYSELF and how such and such a situation will affect ME.
It’s very humbling to realize what a wretch one is. It can fill us with despair, if we let it. But if we are Christians, we shouldn’t be filled with despair, because Jesus already took care of our sin for us on the Cross. In His eyes, we are now perfect, because we are cleansed by His blood. Yes, He still knows that we sin, because the Bible says it grieves the Holy Spirit when we do; but if any sin, we have an advocate with Jesus Christ (from one of the books of John…I can’t remember which).
These aren’t birthday wishes that can be wrapped up in pretty paper and tied with a bow, but God is faithful to complete the work in us that He has started. I pray that as I grow older, He will continue to reveal to me more and more who He is, and reveal His power in taking foul dross like me and turning it into pure gold, His ability to turn me and all His children into something that He can use for His glory.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
May God be praised this year of 2011!
