Feb 8, 2015 6 min read

Soooooo. I celebrated a birthday this week! Yay! Thank you. Thank you. I do appreciate the well wishes and the cheers.

Celebrating the day we were born is pretty freaking awesome. I don’t know about you, but I love birthdays. I love celebrating my birthday. Even more so, I love celebrating the birthdays of others. I love birthdays. Birthdays are all about celebrating life — a life that we are so fortunate to live.

Granted, with each celebration, we recognize that we are getting a year older. But wouldn’t you rather celebrate the anniversary of your birth than have others commemorating the anniversary of your death? People who don’t welcome and celebrate their birthdays live quite an unfortunate life. Does this describe you? Bitter and angry when your birthday comes? Quiet and dismissive that another year has passed? Seriously. Why aren’t you happy to celebrate another year? Why aren’t you grateful for the opportunity to live this life? You don’t have to march down Main Street and have a parade to celebrate your born day. But you should celebrate.

Ouch! Did that hurt? For real? You mad bro? sis? Great! Then that means you are listening. I am sure that I am making a few folks uncomfortable. I know for sure that some of my close friends are reading this and annoyed with me. I don’t care. You can search your mind for a justification that explains why you don’t celebrate your birthday or even acknowledge it. Whatever reasoning you come up with, you will never justify your dismissal of a milestone as important as your birth. YOU! Yes, you are a valued part of this world. If you are still breathing, you have yet to fulfill your purpose. As my boy Red says in Shawshank Redemption, “get busy living or get busy dying.” Which one are you doing?

Last year at this time I was in the beginning of a major crossroads in my life. A little over one month prior, I had an aha! moment. On Dec. 31, 2013, I sat in my living room, propped up on my couch. I began to reflect over my life, focusing on my accomplishments and failures over the last year. As I reflected, it became clear that I actually had achieved many of my goals and was blessed beyond measure. So why did I feel so down? Why was I so overwhelmed with feelings of failure? Why was I empty?

Through the tears, I began to write. I wrote down my successes. I wrote down my failures. I wrote down my goals. I closed my journal. I opened my Bible. I began to read psalms (the go to book of the Bible for prayer and praise). I then read Ephesians. I closed my Bible. I took my journal in my hands, bent my knees and knelt at the side of the couch, and began to pray. I cried out to God. I asked for clarity, for vision, for more of him.

You see, I always prayed for more — more money, more opportunities, more things. But I never truly prayed, opened my heart and prayed, for just more of him and only him. I knew that I was empty because I wasn’t fully committed to the Lord.

At that point in my life, many would think I had it all together. I was serving, but going home empty. I was working, but leaving my job empty. I was praising God at church, but walking down the steps to my car feeling empty. I was empty. I was pouring out so much of me. I thought that I was living obedient. I thought that I was being the “good Christian” that God called me to be. I thought that I was supposed to feel like this and it was just a part of the process. I thought that in time, things would get better, I just had to be patient. I guess I wasn’t really living. I was serving — like a robot — I was serving.

Bishop TD Jakes once said that “anything that feeds you, must be fed. You must feed what’s feeding you. You bless what’s blessing you. You pour into what is pouring into you. Are you taking care of what’s taking care of you?”

I was sowing into people, businesses, and relationships that were leeches and expecting them to nourish me. A leech can’t feed me. So from Jan. 1 through Feb. 4, I purged. I purged friendships. I purged my workload. I purged business relationships. I purged. Because I decided to free my spirit and mind of things and people that were not feeding me, I permitted myself to feed the things and people who were feeding me – especially the Lord. I changed my work schedule to permit time for more prayer, exercise, and more time with my family.

Everyday that I chose to feed the leeches, I was choosing to kill a piece of me. Everyday that I choose to feed my relationship with the Lord, my family, my friends, and my body, I allow myself to grow and live a full life. I am no longer empty my friends. I am full. I am blessed. I am happy.

This year, as I celebrated my birthday, I remembered my choice to purge. I remembered my choice to completely surrender to God and give everything to him. Celebrating my birthday reminds me of how blessed I am. It reminds me of how much more God wants me to do in this world. It reminds me that my purpose is yet to be fulfilled. It reminds me that everyday I spend celebrating life, I am celebrating the one who gave it to me, the one who feeds me.

Be careful what you dismiss my friends – birthdays are cherished milestones. Be even more careful what and where you sow – not everything or everyone deserves you. Take time to care for you and what feeds you. And always remember to celebrate you! Read Matthew 13:7, Luke 8:15.

Gina Jones is a life-long resident of Fayette County and serves the community as an encourager, educator and advocate. Learn more about Gina at www.gmarieproductions.com.