Why Celebrate?

There is something intensely moving about the song "Happy Birthday," whether it moves you to run or cry or laugh or scream with joy.  It is entirely celebratory and individualistic.

But should something so individualistic as the precise moment when an individual enters the world be celebrated ever afterward?

What is really so important about a birthday?

Is there some aspect of the value of human life or the importance of the contributions of each individual to the community that warrants the celebration of birthdays?  We, notably, celebrate everyone's birthdays--both young and old.  But their contributions to society are prospective and retrospective, respectively.  Why then do we still celebrate?

Is there an intrinsic value to human life that cannot be celebrated sufficiently in any other manner?

Birthdays are very special, regardless of the number of gifts received or the wishes for a brilliant new year.  They signify a benchmark for individual growth.  When children are small, they might be measured next to a door frame.  As they enter their teens, every year becomes a benchmark to when they reach eighteen (and "adulthood") or the magical twenty (when they "get their brain back").

After individuals reach adulthood, the growth is a bit more difficult to measure sometimes.  I mean, there are still stages of life for adults; but they are less defined and they often have negative connotations.  Turning twenty-five means becoming "an old maid" or turning fifty means "going over the hill."

But what does twenty-three mean?

Is it a benchmark on the road to agedness?  Is it special in any way?  What would make it worth celebrating?

The very thing that makes other birthdays so important makes the more obscure ones precious, too--growth.

• Being twenty-three can mean having more wisdom than the year before...
• It can mean understanding God's grace more fully...
• It can mean trusting God to have your best interest at heart...
• It can mean trusting friends to be constant...
• It can mean loving the people around you every day...
• It can mean thanking God for the joys of today without impatience for tomorrow...

Yet all of these attributes that might indicate growth to the introspective individual on a birthday might also be evidences of growth throughout the year.  Birthdays are important because they give us bit of perspective on individual growth, but we are free to celebrate that growth and enjoy the journey every day.  It does not take a birthday to celebrate.