Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday, dear Faith,

Happy birthday to me!

            Yes, happy birthday to me.  However, it’s not my physical birthday.  I’ll celebrate that next month.  That birth happened in Wheaton, Illinois.  My parents lived on the third floor of my grandparents’ home at 512 W. Franklin.  I was the second grandchild, only behind my older sister Lloys Jean some twenty months earlier.  I’ve been told that my grandfather bought a new red Buick to bring me home from the hospital.  If you need any further details about that birth, you could ask any one of my aunts, who were teenagers and younger when I was born.

            But this month is my spiritual birthday.  I remember this day, as I do not remember the other day.  I was four years old, almost five.  Of course, you would be shocked to know that I was an ornery, independent child.  (My grandmother used to say she loved the way I stuck my chin out.  My mother did not share that sentiment.)  As a little one who had grown up with family devotions and regular attendance in church (my father was the pastor), I knew well enough what sin was and that I myself was a sinner. 

The particular evidence of my sinful nature that day is mercifully hidden in heaven with my mother, but I knew I needed a Savior.  I knelt beside my parents’ bed in Augusta, Kansas, and told the Lord I was tired of my sin and oh, so sorry.  I asked Him to forgive me and make me clean.  And He did. I wish I could remember all of the details, but I don’t.  I do know, though, that I found a relationship with Jesus that continues to grow.

When my children made decisions for Christ at that same early age, I wanted them to remember more than I did.  I kept a journal, the date first of all, then what led up to their asking to talk to me, what I said, what they said.  I got to lead all of my children to make a profession of their faith.  Then for a number of years we celebrated their spiritual birthday, read aloud the journal entry and thanked the Lord for them.  I don’t know why we ceased that practice.

Shouldn’t we celebrate spiritual birthdays just as we do our natural birthdays?  Those birthdays represent eternity.  I don’t know the exact day of my second birthday, but I know it was in February, so I celebrate the month.  So, happy birthday to me, a very important birthday.

Happy birthday to you?

                                                ~~Faith Himes Lamb