Today is my 53rd birthday. Its early, but I’ve already received a text from one of my dearest friends, and a card and birthday song from my husband. I have a bunch of cards that were sent early by several friends. My my mother-in-law just sent me a text with birthday wishes and multi-colored balloons floating across my screen – I didn’t even know that was possible! Its been a great start.

I love birthdays! I love my birthday, and I love others’ birthdays. It is a day just for that one person to see how special they are. Its a chance for those of us who love someone to let them know how much.

My favorite birthday this year was not my birthday, though, nor my younger son’s 18th, nor my adorable little grand daughter’s first birthday. It was Nikki’s. That’s not her real name, but she is a real client where I volunteer at Sharing Life Community Outreach. It’s a food bank and clothes closet (that kind of simplifies the scope of this large organization, but it will suffice for these purposes). I work with clients when they first come in, find out what they need that day, and set our processes into motion. That day I had the opportunity to work with Nikki, and discovered that it was her birthday. I couldn’t help myself. I dragged this tall, thin, shy woman to the front desk, and announced to everyone there that it was Nikki’s birthday! Someone started singing, and before we knew it, about twelve people – staff, volunteers and other clients were all singing the Birthday Song! Partway through I shouted “Nikki!”, so that when we got to the right place, we could all sing “Happy Birthday Dear Nikki!, Happy Birthday to you!” Then we all went back to what we had been doing.

When a slightly embarrassed Nikki sat back down with me at my desk, she said “Thank you. It’s been a long time since anyone has sung Happy Birthday to me.” Nikki needed food and clothes that day, but more than that, she needed to be special. Don’t we all.

Sharing Life’s tag line is “Demonstrating Compassion.” That starts with genuinely loving people, and knowing how special each person is, just because God made them. The truth is, we can demonstrate that kind of love every day, in acts as simple as singing the Birthday Song. Its amazing the difference that kind of thing can make in someone’s life. NIkki’s might be one of my favorite birthdays for a long time.