Next week I'm having another birthday. No exciting vacation or crazy celebration is planned. Circumstances don't permit. If you follow my blog then you know I mostly write about my current life circumstances and what God is teaching me through them. The past year and a half has been challenging to say the least, but my faith and walk with the Lord has been proportionally stretched. The temptation is always present in our flesh when presented with struggles not of our choosing to hunker down and feel quite sorry for yourself. If you remember the story of Job, at one point he was so miserable sitting the ditch, picking his wounds, that he just wanted to quit living. I'll admit, at times, I have felt the temptation to just give in to those kinds of feelings. But then I remember how much God has done for me past, present, and future. I remember that Jesus didn't ever quit on me and so I press on...hoping in what the Lord will bring out of this situation. When people hurt you, the temptation is to give up on them and even humanity as a whole. We all have met people like that; so wounded at some point in their lives that everyone in their path will be sure to feel it. When presented with bitter or better...I choose better. Why? Because despite humanity's short comings, God still uses us to do his work...day after day. I've seen it. And just like my entire blog inspiration...I'm determined to finish the race set before me.
The key word here...determined...means to set a course for one's mind. For me, it is not to give up hope and faith in God and to deliberately work on setting the affections of my heart on the things God would want me to want. I've come to the realization that part of the reason I'm in this particular situation is that I did not prioritize the way God wanted me to....and so he has used these circumstances, and the people involved to confine me for a while until I got it right. Although this season is a detour in life He didn't cause, he is faithful to make sure that that something for my good comes out of it. Nothing like spiritually being sent to time-out by God, huh? Detours in life are a test of our hope in God and willingness to obey.
That leads us finally to the birthday project. Surfing Pinterest one day I came across a pin that led me to a blog. What caught my attention first was that I recognized the author...she was a former patient of mine. The blog detailed a ministry that she has started called "The Birthday Project." For her 38th birthday, she purposed to do 38 random acts of kindness. This launched an entire ministry that encourages others to do the same. http://www.thebdayproject.com/ This struck in a cord in me for several reasons.
1. I have too much stuff. In fact, I need to get rid of a lot of it. So I definitely don't need anything for my birthday. In fact, "stuff" has been part of the issue along. Putting the accumulation of earthly stuff for myself in front of what the Lord has wanted me to use my resources for, has hindered my spiritual race. I read about David, who was described as being a 'man after God's own heart." When David sat back and looked at his abundance, he had it in his heart that he should build a temple for God. Although, he didn't ultimately build it, it did bless God's heart that David in his abundance did not focus on himself and acquiring more, but instead on what he could do for God. I believe this past year has helped me turn my heart toward this same understanding:
"This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes
bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you
something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives,
robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in
every way, producing with us great praise to God. Carrying
out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the
bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful
thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your
very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the
plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through
your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really
toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your
lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for
whatever you need" (2nd Corin 9:9-15) Plainly put, God blesses us primarily so that we can bless others into understanding the kingdom of God. Believing this, I feel there really are no "random" acts of kindness, because God is working through humanity in each one to accomplish specific purposes.
2. I am emotionally tired. As I mentioned, I've been at this for a year and a half. I've only had 4 days off during that entire time during which I became very sick with the flu. Physically, I'm fine. Truth be told, I'm probably in the best physical shape I've been. The Lord has time and time again provided rest, manipulated labor curves, and determined the course of events to protect me over and over during this season of life. It is just hard sometimes to wait on the Lord; he knows it. However, I know from walking with God long enough that if you want to take your mind off your own problems, even if for a short while, focus on others. Specifically, I remembered this truth:
"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. " Proverbs 11:25 NIV. The Message translation puts it this way, "The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped. " That's really what I want for my birthday...to be refreshed, abundantly blessed, and helped. Because fundamentally I know that any gift that God gives me will far outdo anything I could earthly ask for.
With this in mind, I decided at that moment I was going to do the Birthday Project this year for my own birthday. I'm going to be turning 42 this year! That many acts takes some serious planning; so I'm calling it 42 Not So Random Acts of Kindness. Not random, because I also have been praying that God would purposely show me people that need to be blessed. I've invited my best friend to spend the day with me, because knowing her heart, I knew she would thoroughly enjoy participating in this with me. I was right; she is as excited as I am. I would generally admit that at a certain age, birthdays begin to lose their appeal. However, I have to say, this year I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting to open her presents. I can't wait until it's my birthday. Only 3 more days!
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