Just got a voice mail from my parents leaving me a birthday message. I guess you’re never too old for your mom and dad to sing you happy birthday on the phone.

I always get somewhat reflective on my birthday. So here is my reflection.

More than anyone or anything else, we take God for granted. I actually referenced it in my message yesterday. We’re on a planet that is spinning at 1000 mph around it axis and traveling 66,600 mph through space. We’ll travel 1.3 million miles today in our annual trek around the sun. So when was the last time you thanked God for keeping us in orbit? Probably never! We take it for granted.

Right next to God, I think we take our parents for granted. But I had a moment as I listened to my mom and dad sing “Happy Birthday” to me. When you become a parent your perspective of your parents changes. You realize all the sacrifices they made. You realize how tough it is physically and emotionally and spiritually. And if you had good parents, you want to be like them! That’s how I feel about my mom and dad. I want to be like them. And I think that is the greatest gift a parent can give a child.

It’s sort of funny that the person celebrating the birthday gets all the gifts. We probably ought to give our parents gifts on our birthday.

What a year this has been. Lots of blessings to count.