My Oddest Birthday Present

As most of you reading will probably know, I turned 40 recently -- December 15th to be exact. For the 40 days leading up to my birthday, I blogged about something I was grateful for. On the 12th, some friends gave me a surprise party. On the 16th, my friend Jill and I spent the day together. The 40 days were a great reminder for me to be grateful for what I have. I loved the party and my day with Jill. Overall, it was a good birthday.

On the 15th I got, perhaps, the oddest present I could get. It came in the form of an email from a woman at church. Earlier in the summer, I had interacted with her over a topic. While I wasn't angry with her, that isn't how I came across. She was emailing me after several months to let me know how much that interaction still bothered her.

Honestly, I was surprised. My instinct was to go into defense mode -- a mode I operate out of a lot. Before I could go into lock down, God's voice rang through. "This is how you lived your first 40 years. How will you live your next 40?"

I am convinced that only His Spirit could compel me to immediately type the following

Thank you for the email. I am sorry for how things transpired. None of it was ever about you. But I do recognize that it may have hurt you. Would you be willing to get together with me and perhaps Jill or someone else to talk this through?

I would really like to resolve it and apologize in person.

We were able to meet today. I think it was a good time of sorting through things and bringing some closure to the issue. But it was hard and scary going into it. I've had a lot of anxiety thinking about it since that email and didn't sleep much at all last night thinking about meeting today.

The woman was totally unaware that it was my birthday the day she sent it. But I do believe it was an odd sort of birthday present, because God's presence spoke so quickly and swiftly in the moment of reading and responding and set in motion the possibility of meeting and reconciling today.

I prefer warm fuzzy, birthday greetings -- but this one provided the opportunity to bless me and help me grow but also, I hope, to bless her.