The Love Behind the Celebration of Life

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 (NLT)

There’s a piece of my heart that holds special memories of birthdays past. My mother was the Queen of cakes.  She would design and bake a cake to fit the theme of my life each year —  a ballerina cake with pink and purple streamers and a guitar cake with licorice strings to name just two. She loved making them and making my birthdays memorable.

I have since grown up, and my mother has passed away, but the tradition of making birthdays special in our family continues. Homemade cakes, however, have been replaced with store bought ones, but the love behind each one is still there.

Other treasured “homemade” items of birthdays past were cards from my children — folded a little crooked with cheese puff orange fingerprints adorning the edges and stickers of all kinds — written with words that melted my heart. Today I no longer receive those “homemade” cards. They’ve been replaced with store bought ones, but the love behind each one is still there. Their hand-written messages inside convey words of love that remain with me throughout the year. I keep them all and reread them from time to time — smiling through my tears and feeling so blessed to have these precious lives in my life. And the one who has been by my side throughout our 36 years together, is still the one that makes life’s celebrations a little sweeter — my husband. His love is such a gift and blessing to me.

I thank God for creating me and knitting me together and for letting me celebrate so many birthdays over all these years. I see how all my past years have been woven together in such a beautiful way to create the present I am currently living. With each new year, there comes more of life to add to the past and the blessing of life continues.

What special birthday memory do you have?

With my whole heart of celebration,

Diane