It’s the cold, windy month of February from where I live, and a few days later, I am celebrating my birthday.
I can’t help but think back on the day I was born. Were my parents happy? Was I? What did it mean to the world? What did it mean to God?
Days and years later, the answers to those questions might have slipped through unnoticed, never to be thought of again.
We immerse ourselves in everyday living.
If we’re lucky, we get to grow up in supportive, loving environments where we feel safe and, most days, happy.
However, we could have had it differently, too, dealing with poverty, terror, abandonment, or abuse.
Then we become teenagers and adults, ready to take on the world. Some of us “mature” fast, while others don’t at all, or maybe just not yet.
We go through different human experiences.
– Being in the world and of it, pursuing all sorts of things: titles, accolades, fortune, power, and pleasure.
– Losing and winning battles, whether physical like cancer, emotional like grief, mental like anxiety, or spiritual like sin.
– Forging and breaking a connection with another living thing, be it human, animal, or plant.
We create.
We destroy.
We progress.
We regress.
It’s the cycle of life, the circle, the evolution; however, you want to tie the pieces together.
Is something we work hard to get worth what we’re giving up?
Is the pain we choose to endure worth the reward?
Is success worth every failure?
Is living worth dying for?
The map is not the territory.
Alfred Korzybski
I can only speak of my own reality.
And while you too have answers based on your own view of the world and life experiences, I’d like us to ponder on these questions more deeply.
Because like a long-distance train, we may keep on “chugging” a little longer, and then, it’ll be time to pull the breaks. When we do, I believe most of us would want to know we ended at the right stop.
Yes, significant shifts happen in life. Like tectonic plates of the earth re-arranging, they’re easily felt, and they wake us up. But there are subtle turns, too, urging us to take notice- like birthdays.
“The two most important days in our life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.”
Mark Twain
Birthdays, to me, will always remain special. It’s kind of a reset button, calling us to go back to the root of it all.
Have we expressed ourselves genuinely since the day we were born?
Have we strayed from the path made visible or shaped it as we went along with the tools we were given?
More importantly, did we come to know the intention behind the path?
sundaewrites
When I picture myself coming out of my mother’s womb, I see myself crying because finally, I’m independent, separated from my mom, and will have to be on my own sooner or later. It was a scary state to be in, but I knew I needed to adapt.
I cry because it feels miraculous to be born, magical to be on this planet called earth, fortunate to know that out of a billion combinations, the universe impressed my ID tag and chose to manifest through me.
I cried because I was handed a purpose, kind of like a mission to fulfill, though that wasn’t very clear when my eyes caught the first ray of light.
Were my parents happy? I like to think they were, though I doubt they knew what they signed up for. Parenting is tough. Nevertheless, they were the right parents for me.
What did my birth mean to the world? Well, I don’t want to fill in the gaps. However, this is where feedback can be helpful. So if you have something, I care to know.
What did it mean to God? A lot. He made me in His image and likeness, and that’s a big deal. So my desire is to let His face shine through wherever I go.
I know I fail often, but every single time, it’s worth another try.
sundaewrites 