Today we celebrated our son’s 5th birthday. His current interest at the moment is wild cats so that was the theme of the party. Which got me thinking about the biblical use of lions which I wanted to write about tonight, but I will need more time to research that topic.
It is easy to get carried away with birthday parties these days. As a mom I put a lot of pressure on myself to give my boys the perfect birthday. In fact, every few months I joke (or maybe half joke) to my husband that if anything should ever happen to me, I expect him to hire a party planner for all our sons’ birthday, graduation, etc. parties. I do not mess around when it comes to party planning. In my opinion, every party must have a theme accompanied by a Pinterest board with a minimum of 20 pins. Choice of food should coordinate with said theme (complete with cutesy labels to ensure the guests understand your thought process). For example, it’s not a coincidence you chose to serve blackberries with cantaloupe, it’s obviously “Tiger Fruit.” Wrap it all up with an adorable parting gift and you’ve hit it out of the park! Never mind the fact that eight hours have passed by, and you just now realize you haven’t had time to pee, you just achieved a Shutterfly book worthy party!
Years from now I doubt my son will remember the “tiger tails” I served at his 5th birthday party. I mean I will only because the amount of time I spent making them when they turned out so poorly is just plain embarrassing. Could there have been a better use for my time? Most likely. Still, I hope when my boys grow older and they think of all the time and effort I spent trying to make their birthday parties special, they will smile and remember how loved they are.
As nice as treats and presents and parties are, at the end of the day they are just another example of excessive consumerism. (Even if they are low-key adorable!). So, I thought I would take a moment in my writing tonight to bring God back into the birthday party scene because our eternal salvation should be the “party” we are focused on the most. Therefore, I wouldn’t appreciate if everyone reading this post would take a few moments to say the following prayer for my son on his 5th birthday.
God our Father, the birth of your Son Jesus Christ brought great joy to Mary and Joseph. We give thanks to You for MJ, whose birthday we celebrate today. May he ever grow in your faith, hope, and love. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.