It’s an odd habit. I keep birthday cards in order to reread them four or so months later.  I just went through the stack from my last birthday.  I reviewed them all, including the one from my “friend” who sent a newspaper clipping on “getting older means getting better deals,” a step-by-step guide to all the senior discounts.

Maybe I keep them because they represent the deep value we place on relationships.  Each friend carefully picked out an appropriate card, signed, stamped and sent it.  Maybe I hold on to them because I am by nature a “keeper.”  It’s hard to throw away the cards with their pictures suitable for framing and their wise advice.

Whatever the real reason, as I revisited them this morning, I was struck by how the words never grow old.   People age and retire, but words seem to remain young and employed. The words wishing me well, poking fun at the growing number representing my age, calling on God to bless me, affirming their friendship, expressing their admiration resonated in my heart today just as on my actual birthday. 

We do well to attend to the words of our lives.  God himself knew the significance of words.  He used them to carry the message of his Bible.  He sent a book not a video.  He turned words into flesh.  Not a single word of God has retired or ceased to have value.

Birthdays are so important. I just threw the cards away, but not the words.  Words!  What would we do without them?