O Happy Days...!

I LOVE birthdays. Not my birthday, particularly; that's never been a huge deal to me. No, I love OTHER people's birthdays. I love secretly finding out when birthdays are. I love whispering other people's birthdays to their friends so we can surprise them on their special day. I love suprising them with cards and I love giving gifts and I love singing "Happy Birthday" and I just love the whole concept of birthdays. I love how everyone has one day...one day of their very own...to be celebrated.

Today is my very bestest friend in the whole world's birthday (Happy Birthday, dear!!!) and I am so happy about it!!! I have been counting down the days to her birthday for months now. She does EVERYTHING for EVERYONE ALL THE TIME, but on her birthday, at least, it's a chance for the whole world to do things for HER, and to let her know how special and wonderful she is and how much we love her and how happy we are to have her in our lives :)

But it got me thinking, too.... as wonderful as it is to celebrate someone especially on their birthday, and let them know how special they are, why can't we do that every day? Why only once a year? Birthdays don't come nearly often enough, you see....I would never survive if I had to wait a WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR to tell my friend how amazing she is and make her feel special again....I mean, after all, I try to do that every day!!!!!

Remembering someone's birthday shows that you care about them, but you can show you care on the other 364 days, too!

One neat thing I LOVE to do is surprise people on their HALF birthdays -- it's a fun way to let them know you're thinking about them when they least expect it. Send a card, give a little gift or just call them and sing "HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TO YOU....". You will be surprised how happy this makes both of you!

Even more fun is celebrating an UNbirthday -- celebrating someone you love on a totally random day. Not because it's their birthday (or half-birthday!); but simply because you love them :)

Look for ways to let someone know how very special they are to you today. Look for ways to encourage people today. Send them a card in the mail for no reason at all, bake some cookies to share, draw a picture, write a poem, give them a call or even just a big hug!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" -- Phillipians 4:4

"For this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" -- Psalm 118:24

We can and SHOULD celebrate things that bring us joy and rejoice in our blessings EVERY DAY!!!!! And my friends are certainly some of the biggest blessings in my life :)