This was written on one of my birthdays, edited years later. The first Page (Volume 1) for the date was written just after the death of my dear wife, on January 15, 2001. Our children tried to cover my lament on that birthday after their mother had flown away. They still do, more in silence than in words unless I broach the point – going on two decades of observances. I am comforted. With her, my life was happy. I now report, on answering questions about my personal status, that I am content. My joy is in the Lord, my family, and my dream is for some permitted reunion. That reunion will not likely be anything like reunion we know on earth. It will be shorn of all that may have been wrong, unnecessary, meaningless, selfish, or distorted in the natural state so will have nothing to do with age, or time, or success/failure. It will be in the context of the family of God, and punctuated by the presence of Christ (the Groom) with his Bride (the Church) in the glory of God. Our families are meant to be a distant human analogy of the Family of God in love. We will discover that the image of God given us was as related to the family as to the factors of each person’s individuality. Both seem to be involved in that mystery of the creation. It is a great mystery. (Father/Son/Holy Spirit is mirrored in the one flesh of the marriage/family.) Reunion will be heavenly.
Little wonder that the family holds high status in Scripture, and that much of Scripture is occupied with counsel for the care and meaning of families. This includes strong language against anything that threatens God’s family meaning. A birthday belongs to the family, not only for the person noting the day, but for the mother, father, and others of the family blood or attachment. It is a special day, likely also in the mind of God for this person and family. We make the most of it. It is a day to ask questions of self. So I do ask about the quotients of my life: integrity, love, peace, service, prayer and all that is included in the Fruit of the Holy Spirit for life. This includes the uses of God’s gifts vouchsafed to the birthday prince or princess – and the family. We are a part of each other, the rib that forms the one from the other. This oneness from the first parents remains with us, and belongs most clearly to families. We owe God genuine repentance when messing up that creation concept. The integral, faithful, devout, caring family is God’s administrative shadow to the world on managing life. If the pattern were followed there would be smaller, less costly government, better uses of resources, and the solution of some large problems that other institutions try to address, but often fail. Many of the problems are created because of the loss of family unity, faithfulness and integrity. Families are meant to care for their own generations, under God.
On this day, I will pray in honor to God, then for me to be what God would have an old man to be and do, for my family (the oldest institution in the world and clearly sponsored by God). I follow up with the church, and the world in its parts as well as the whole, and the factors that I should pray for, including the requests that come from persons seeking prayer participation. In addition the day will be more important in my list of special days than some of those advised by the culture. The days honoring men and women of history are less important to the development of the life and soul of the individual than the welfare and influence of those in one’s own generation. This in no way takes away my respect remembered on history’s days, but it does help put in perspective about who I am to God, my family and society. From that improved situation I am better to society and culture than would have been the case if my birth date were lonely to myself with special regard for my own interests. Birth dates ought to be moments of reckoning from which the future evolves, in a spiritual context of love, bright and useful. The birthday person ought to take inventory that can identify spiritual growth. He or she can suggest contribution to meaning as God would have it in final reporting. The person can note something that has been learned that enhances life and dignity found in righteousness that is both private and public; can find the promise of God that adding years has something to do including relationship with him; and, so the story proceeds. This does not mean that those who die young have violated the menu of God. Each accounts only for self. But, to live is to mean that God has more for my life. No human being qualifies to evaluate others than one-self. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020