Happy Birthday???

Last Thursday, my beloved hubby baked me a chocolate birthday cake - his very first cake! I really appreciate his loving gesture and his courage to step into the baking world! And everyone who ate that cake found it hard to believe my husband was the one who made it! It was soft, moist and yummy!! Someone actually said it tasted like the rich Hilton chocolate cake! Another friend actually took some of the cake home in an attempt to inspire her husband to bake one for her birthday next week!

Cakes aside, I was very glad to have the company of 14 good friends in my home fellowship who sang me the birthday song and prayed for many blessings from God for me. I was touched by their love for me. But another part of me pained at the thought that 3 out of 4 of my children did not remember my birthday. Only my second son in Sewanee, Tennessee, USA emailed me a birthday greeting. The eldest son in Fort Worth,Texas totally forgot. My two other children who are still staying with me at home did not even give me any verbal greeting, although they knew it was my birthday since their father tried in vain to get them to help him make the cake the night before.

It is at times of disappointments like this that I find comfort in God's Word. Just recently, God has spoken to me in a very clear way, like a bolt of lightning brightening the dark sky. I was reading Luke 17:7-10, a passage where Jesus said :
"Suppose one of you has a servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the field, do you tell him to hurry along and eat his meal? Of course not! Instead you say to him,'Get my supper ready, then put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink, after that you may have your meal.' The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he? It is the same with you, when you have done all you have been told to do, say 'We are ordinary servants, we have only done our duty.' " I suddenly saw for the first time that in all my service unto others, especially my children, I must not expect to be thanked! If I expect any gratitude, I am in for disappointment. I am only serving the Lord as His servant. It is good enough that the Lord sees what I do in obedience to Him. The Lord can set me free from my self-centredness and the need for appreciation from others. I desire to continue to do good unto others without expecting ANYTHING in return - not even a thank you.

I do not want to wallow in any self-pity when my children do not remember my birthday. Why is my birthday so important anyway? (Probably many thousands of people were born on the same day of the same month as me!) Perhaps it is because I grew up in a family where we always remembered and celebrated each others' birthdays as a way of showing love and appreciation for one another. And I have never failed to remember and celebrate the birthdays of each of my children and my husband. But why must I expect them to do the same for me? May I never forget Jesus' teaching in Lk 17. I must decrease and Christ must increase! Lord, help me!