Backwards

Today is my birthday. (Keep those cards and letters coming in.) For me, it is less a day for celebration and more of a day for reflection. It is difficult to get excited about a birthday when you have had well over a half century of them.
 

This morning, during my morning quiet time, I got to thinking about birthday presents. Why do we give the person who was born on a certain day presents. Doesn’t it make more sense to give presents to the mother who bore us? I mean, they did all the work. I am a guy so, obviously, I have never been pregnant or born a child. But I have been a very close observer several times. From my point of view, there seem to be very few positives to being pregnant – other than having a child. Several months of irregular sleep, bloating, swollen ankles, difficulty sitting and standing, (dare I mention) mood swings, and morning sickness are followed by several hours of some of the most intense pain known to humankind accompanied by the humiliation of having a crowd of family and strangers standing around watching you suffer with your “wherewithal” exposed to the world. This sounds like something that calls for gifts. Lots of gifts.

But then, we do many things that don’t make sense to me.

·       Why do we celebrate New Year’s in January: In the dead of winter. There is nothing new and exciting going on in January. New Year’s should be celebrated in the spring: like April or May. Everything is new in May.

·       Why do we give each other presents at Christmas? It is not our birthday.

·       Why do we call the place we park our cars a driveway and the place we drive our cars a parkway?

·       Why do we call Jesus the King of Kings and then think He is supposed to serve us and meet all our needs instead of us serving Him?

I don’t have an answer. I was just wondering.

Copyright © 2013, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved