How do you receive a gift? What is your response to a wrapped box before you even know what’s inside? Today is my birthday and I am one proud woman to be 49. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed by that number. I’m ALIVE! Do you have any idea what God had to bring me through to get me to today? It’s an absolute miracle I’m alive … and that’s the absolute truth for every single one of us. I don’t hate growing older, this is what I prayed for! My wrinkles and gray hair are an answered prayer. I prayed to get to grow old, and here I am another year older. I won’t hate it now! I’m determined to absolutely rock this year of life like only someone with ridiculous gratitude can. Because it’s my birthday, I’m starting this day here with you sharing my absolute favorite lesson. This is the lesson of the Birthday Girls. Imagine with me you have come to the birthday party of 3 little girls. It’s gift time at the party and the girls each sit down at a long table with a wrapped box in front of them. This is the gift you brought for each of the girls. Birthday girl #1 unwraps the gift, finds the baby doll you bought in the pink dress, gives a slight smile and obligatory ‘thank you’, then quickly focuses on the next presents. Birthday girl #2 rips into her gift, sees that she too received a baby doll from you, but she’s upset it’s purple and not pink like birthday girl #1. She doesn’t like purple. She pouts in jealousy with her folded arms and angry eyebrows. Birthday girl #3, well she’s different than the other 2. She wiggles with excitement and anticipation over her gift. She holds the box still unwrapped, smiling while birthday girl #1 is so unimpressed and birthday girl #2 is ungrateful. So, birthday girl … which one are you? I know it may not be your birthday today, but girl don’t you realize the gift you have received? The ultimate gift has been set before you, wrapped in the rising sun. Here it is, the gift of a brand new day of life. How did you receive it? Some of us were birthday girl #2, royally disappointed that today isn’t what we wanted. UNGRATEFUL. It’s Monday and we would much rather it be Friday. It’s too early and we wanted more sleep. It’s too hot or it’s too cold and we’re like freaking Goldilocks, never happy with anything. Gosh, aren’t we guilty of always wanting what we don’t have and never recognizing what we do have? When it’s Summer we want Fall, then when it turns to Fall we want Summer back. We dreamed of that man to spend the rest of our lives with, now the very sound of him breathing is annoying. We prayed for these babies, now we are nothing but frustrated and overwhelmed. We hoped for that job, now we dread showing up for work. All these gifts and we’re not happy with any of them. Oh, birthday girl #2, disappointed with what you have been given. We really do act like brats. But my guess is, most of us are more like birthday girl #1. We’re just UNIMPRESSED by the gift. Today is okay, but it’s nothing to get all rip roaring excited over. We’ve kinda gotten gifts like this one before. I’ve Monday like this one many times. It’s nothing new, nothing impressive, just ordinary. So, we too respond to the gift with a slight smile and obligatory, ‘thank you God for today’, but truthfully, we’re more focused on the days that have already passed or the ones to come. Not this gift, the next gift.