“I feel cheated. It’s not fair!”
Her dad quickly threw an inquiry. “What’s not fair? What you talking about Jackie?”
She was just a teenager. A thoughtful and curious one too. From the day she was born – sixteen years ago – Jack knew his daughter would be like her grandma. Everyone said she resembled his mom.
Jack’s mother was a wise woman. Thoughtful. Sensitive. Fun-loving. And she spoke her mind.
It was February 28, 2022. Jack had just picked up Jackie and Jordan from school. He had been working from home since the pandemic two years ago. Schools were now reopened for in-person learning. Given his flexibility as an IT manager, he got first dibs on hearing the daily school happenings as he navigated the heavy suburban Atlanta traffic with Jackie and Jordan.
“My birthday, dad!”
“What about your birthday?”
“Dad, tomorrow should be her birthday!” said Jordan from the back seat.
Turning to Jackie who occupied the front passenger seat of the 2016 Lexus GX as it barely moved in stop-and-go traffic, Jack reminded his daughter, mockingly, “But tomorrow we’ll be in March. You don’t have a birthday this year , dear.”
“Dad, I know and that’s my point.”
“So that’s why you celebrate it any time you want.” said Jack.
“You missing the point, dad. Deliberately.”
“I think so too, Jackie”, said Jordan.
Jackie leaned towards her younger brother’s sympathy, trying to avoid her dad’s pretense at misunderstanding.
“Every day the names of students and staff having a birthday appear on the display board, and everyone gets to wish them happy birthday,” Jackie explained.
“I see.” Said dad.
“They can’t just put a day there for my birthday, dad. Gotta be your actual birthday.”
“And you won’t have one until after you graduate,” Jordan added.
“Well, don’t take a birthday so seriously then. It’s just a day.” Jack was really adding fuel to the fire!
“Dad, I can’t believe you actually said that!” Jackie’s voice grew above the traffic.
“Why?”
Jackie explained. “My birthday comes around every four years. It commemorates the day I was born. But for three of those four years, I either have to say ‘I don’t have a birthday this year,’ or I use a fake day!”
“So, tell me, what does it feel like when you celebrate your birth on another day when it’s not a leap year,” Dad said.
“It feels like an ordinary party. Festive, yes. But it doesn’t feel like my birthday.”
“I understand you.”
“Who else just picks a random day to commemorate the day they were born simply because their birthday does not even show on the calendar? Only those of us who were unfortunate to have been born in a leap year.”
“Not all of you,” added Jordan, “only those born on February 29.”
At this point, Jack decided to seize the teachable moment with his captive audience. He reiterated his understanding of how Jackie was feeling and commended her on her thoughtfulness in acknowledging the meaning of commemorating or celebrating a special day.
“Your birthday marks the actual day you were born.” Jack said.
“We only have one birthday.” Jordan added.
“Yes.” Jack continuing. “And we do not easily appreciate changing our birthdays. Not even for the expedience of a leap year. That’s why your mom and I usually try to make your birthdays as memorable as possible, Jackie. We know you will be in college, but we are already thinking about 2024.”
Jack asked Jordan and Jackie to imagine how God must feel when He sees people neglecting to celebrate His creation of the earth on the day He has designated.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:3 NKJV
The seventh day of the week was blessed and dedicated for a holy purpose BY GOD from the creation of the earth. Anyone who doubts the specificity and purpose in God’s special act, should take special note of God’s reminder to Abraham’s descendants who had lost sight of the meaning of the Sabbath during their 400-year Egyptian bondage.
[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
[10] but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work…
[11] For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV
Later on, we see God’s encouragement with promise of blessings for faithful observance of the Sabbath command. For example:
[13] “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,
[14] Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:13-14 NKJV
Then again, we see Jesus – our perfect Example – as well as the Apostles throughout the New Testament church, remembering the command and the meaning of observing the Sabbath of the Lord. Speaking of Jesus, the Bible says,
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
Luke 4:16 NKJV
The seventh-day Sabbath is a commemoration of God’s creation. We dishonor Him when we substitute another day as sabbath.
Just think of it: He already blessed AND sanctified the seventh day of the week and no one can UN-bless it or transfer its solemnity. Just as no one can ever change your birthday, no one can change the Sabbath day.
Don’t you think we all should remember the seventh-day Sabbath every week just as God instructed us in the Ten Commandments?
