September is a month full of birthdays in our family. Many members of our extended family were born in September. In fact, we will celebrate several notable years in 2014 -- my eighth child will turn 16 (momentous for a teen), my eldest will turn 30 (oh, no!), my baby brother is well over 50 and our mother will turn 80.
My second son was born 15 minutes before midnight on Sept. 4. My grandfather's birthday was Sept. 5. My dear grandmother asked me why I couldn't wait just 15 more minutes. I really didn't have an answer for her.
In our family, birthdays are celebrated with family gatherings, special meals, cake and parties. Usually, everyone receives a phone call from family members not living nearby. When the children were young, there was singing, a special meal and cake as well as a party. As the "children" have grown up and moved out to begin their own families, we try to celebrate on the Sunday following a birthday by having a family dinner with the birthday person selecting the menu. Not everyone can attend every event, but we try to get together regularly.
This weekend, we celebrated my eldest grandson's sixth birthday. He was actually born on my mother's birthday, as was one of my brother's daughters.
Birthdays generally make us take stock of life. We evaluate where we are and what we have accomplished. Maybe we even make plans for the coming year.
Scripture tells us:
"The days of our lives are 70 years;
And if by reason of strength they are 80 years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away...
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90: 10, 12 (NKJV)
A birthday is a good time to evaluate the past and to plan for the future. We are advised to number our "days," not necessarily our years. Each day is valuable.
Often, people say they're just "wasting time." Actually, time is far too valuable to waste. Rest is valuable and commendable as long as it's not out of balance with work.
As I get older, although each day is a smaller fraction of my life, I realize the value of each day, each moment, and am trying to not take any for granted. Too often people complain about the trials and tribulations of life. But, life is full of troubles.
Someone once said: "Life's hard... but what's the option?"
Seriously, King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, recorded that life is full of labor and sorrow. Sorrow is intermingled with joy. And, we choose the part on which we focus.
Recently, I realized that sometimes we're not necessarily delivered from our struggles, but within our struggles. Our attitude changes and we can face the trials, the slights, the offenses, the struggles with aplomb, with a quiet confidence that this, too, shall pass, and we shall come out of the struggle stronger for it.
I am now older than I very clearly remember my grandmother and mother being. Sometimes my thoughts of them place them younger than they are today. I clearly remember walking with my great-great aunt, who was about 90 at the time, down the hall of a nursing home. She was holding my elbow as though she was assisting me. She pointed to another resident and said: "See that old lady over there?" It made me wonder what she saw when she looked in the mirror. Did she realize that she was old? Despite the physical aging that she could not deny, she maintained a positive outlook on life and refused to give in to the vicissitudes of growing older.
Our culture worships youth and disdains turning old. We are almost embarrassed to admit our age when older than 30. But, Scripture tells us to honor the aged. If we mature spiritually, mentally, emotionally as we grow older, but keep a vibrant spirit about us, age, despite the accompanying trials, is not a curse, but a blessing.
Happy birthday, September birthday people!
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Editor's note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County, chosen the best small weekly newspaper in Arkansas for five of the past six years. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record. She has nine children, four sons-in-law, six grandsons, a granddaughter and another granddaughter due in January. She can be reached at [email protected].
Editorial on 09/03/2014