Anniversary

#fmf

Anniversary, that’s a day of celebration!  Whatever it is you’re celebrating.  Usually it’s thought of a wedding anniversary or it could be the anniversary of starting a new job or putting down that drug of choice.  These are all special times and times worthy of celebrating.

But we could also think of an anniversary as a milestone, worthy of celebration!  We have many milestones in our lives.  When we started walking, said our 1st word,  cut our first tooth, started school, started driving, went on our 1st date, graduated high school, accepted into college, finished college, got our 1st “real” job, first promotion, got married, had a baby and our 1st grandchild.  And the list could literally go on and on with many in between.  All worthy of great celebration!

Our 1st celebration was the celebration of our birth. Obviously we don’t remember all the joy that surrounded that moment but it was the moment that started the movement towards all the other celebrations, milestones and anniversaries.   At this moment, this child was knit together by a Father that would walk with us through the rest of our celebrations.  We may not acknowledge His presence but that doesn’t mean He is not there.  We may not see His impact on our daily lives because we may not be looking for it. But the day we do, the day we accept Him as our Father, the day we accept Jesus into our heart and the day we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our walk is the 2nd greatest celebration, milestone and anniversary.  If I’m being honest and I usually am, I didn’t grasp that great anniversary when it came.  It has taken me almost 40 years to truly understand the reason for that celebration.  But now that I do understand it my mind goes directly to the greatest anniversary I can imagine.  The celebration, milestone and anniversary of the greatest day in my life that will ever be.  The day the Lord calls me home.   I know that is usually a day of great sadness for people, particularly if the circumstances surrounding that day were not joyous, but for me, I will be celebrating that great anniversary.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Many of us living and walking this earth do not know of most of these reasons for celebration.  Many have suffered great, either by the hand of others or by their own choices.  We all have the opportunity to hear His call.  We simply have to be listening.   But you may say, some don’t know, some aren’t hearing.  To that I say, for those of us who have celebrated, had the milestone and reached the anniversary of accepting Him into our hearts, that is where we come in!  We must pave the way for those who don’t know of the reason for celebration.   Show them the way to hear Him call.

Lord, Wow!  You amaze me and make me joyous !  You have provided for me a path that leads to the greatest anniversary there could ever be.  Help me Lord be brave enough to show others.  Amen!