Grateful for Life!

Posted on Aug 19, 2014 in Everyday Bliss | 0 comments

My daughter MIshca celebrated her 3rd birthday in Baguio. It was the first time we didn’t have a party but had a quiet celebration instead.

On the eve of her birthday, I made a mad dash to the mall to buy gifts, balloons and candies. Her dad decorated the hotel room while Mishca and I slept. He also made a simple pinata using a yellow SM plastic bag. When Mishca got up and saw the pink and purple balloons, and cupcakes across the room, she paused for about 2 minutes. And then it dawned on her what that meant. “Yehey, it’s my birthday!” she said with glee as she clapped her hands.

The coolest part for her was the pinata pulling. A computer wire was suspended at the mouth of the bag. Just one quick pull by the toddler made it rain chocolate all over the place.

We took her to Camp John Hay to play on the swingset and eat some ice cream. Then she opened her gifts as she sat on the mat under the tall pine trees. Everything was going well when at lunch time she accidentally held a hot plate and burned her index finger. She cried all the way back to the hotel. The pain was throbbing but after two hours, she declared, “I’m better now. God healed me!”

We had dinner at a quaint country restaurant later that night and she was presented with a cake by the staff which she enjoyed heartily. Her dad asked then asked her:
“Mishca, what are you most thankful for on your birthday?”

Without skipping a beat, she answered: “That I am born.”

That blew us away.
Tonight in the car (after Trinoma), she told me, “Mommy, thank you for making me inside the tummy.”

I corrected her, “No, thank God for making you in the tummy!”
Even as I said that, I smiled to myself, knowing that I have a 3 year old who is grateful for life!

How many times have I, as an adult feeling the stress and drudgery of life, wished that I had never been born?

Despite all the things that are happening in and around me, God is good and worthy of my praise. In spite of my weaknesses and shortcoming, life is worth living because of what Christ has done to save me from myself.

And like the psalmist, I can declare that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”