Well, today’s the day.

Sort of like New Year’s, but a lot more personal.  And there’s usually a cake and people sing you a song.

It’s the day when I look back and look forward and do a whole lot of thinking about where I am right now.  I’ll have two more days after this to do even more thinking as I drive the 1250 miles back to my home in Florida after spending a few weeks with family in New Jersey.

I’m sure there will be long talks with God in the car.  Talks about the past year and all the years that have led up to this particular one.  And I think God and I will talk about what happens next.

Psalm 139 is a good birthday Psalm, I think.  It seems like David was in a reflective mood when he wrote it.  He talks about how God has known him since before he was born and about how God knows everything that’s happened to him.  He talks about the fact that he can’t go anywhere in this world without God being right there beside him.

And he talks about how his days were all fashioned for him by God and written down in a book before any of them came to be. 

That goes for me, too.

Every one of my days – all the birthdays and all the days in between – have been fashioned by my God. 

I don’t know what will happen this year.  I don’t know where I’ll be or what I will have experienced when next year’s birthday rolls around.  But there is something I do know.

I can confidently say with David, “Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14)

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know my sitting down and my rising up.  You understand my thought afar off.  You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it all together.  You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.  It is high, but I cannot attain it.  (Psalm 139: 1-6)