It’s my birthday week. I’m not big on birthdays, and for reasons I won’t disclose, this is the last one I intend to recognize. But I did enjoy a surprise celebration on Wednesday, courtesy of the Women of Vision group in Fairfield, Conn., to whom I was speaking that night.
Do you ever wonder why birthdays are about us? Shouldn’t they be about our mothers, who did all the work to bring us into the world? Certainly they should be about our heavenly Father, who knit us together in the womb.
Recently I heard about a little girl in California who knows, with wisdom beyond her years, what birthdays can be about. Kara Bradley turned 11 in late January. A few weeks before the big day, she was home sick with the flu, watching TV news about the devastating Haiti earthquake. She decided she didn’t need any presents and asked her party guests to donate to World Vision’s Haiti relief effort instead. She raised $2,000!
Now there’s an idea. What if we all used our birthdays to celebrate the fact that God gave us this one life—for a purpose?
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We love including World Vision in our holiday gift giving!
Last year at my son’s 8th birthday party, we asked parents for donations rather than gifts. We have a World Vision Hope Child named Samuel whose birthday is 10 days before my son. With the money raised we made a donation to Samuel. They bought two goats for the family, and a school uniform and new shoes for Samuel, just in time for him to start a new school year. That’s far better investment than birthday toys!
Last Christmas our kids used the World Vision catalog to pick out gifts for Baby Jesus. Each child chose something meaningful to them. This year it was winter clothing from my 3rd grader who loves to play in snow, school supplies from my kindergartner, and the new nut-based packs of therapeutic food from my preschooler who loves PB&J sandwiches.
two yrs ago, my daugther had her 9th birthday party and asked her friends to bring journals and pens instead of gifts. Some people from our church were going to an orphanage in Guatemala to teach about the Bible and Jesus to older children. She collected about 120 journals, the exact number needed for the children. That’s God. My son also collected blankets to send to Nigeria instead of presents for himself at his Birthday party (sent to Voice of the Martyrs). And this yr at my daugther’s 11th Birthday party, she asked her friends to bring shoes, blankets, toys, and school supplies to give to our mission team heading to Guatemala. Giving is so much better than receiving.