This is the Day

Today, my grandson, Benjamin celebrates his first birthday party. I'm really looking forward to it for several reasons. 1) He is a really cool baby and he loves his pappy. 2) I will be sober and interested in him, not me. 3) There will be cupcakes. 4) He is one year closer to getting the really cool toys.

At one year old, life really is all about you. If Ben could express in words, he might say " Wow, look at all of these people that are here to do for me what ever I want." And its true. There is nothing we (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) wouldn't do for this child. How blessed he is to be so loved by so many. I think being loved makes people better looking. Benjamin is genetically predisposed to being handsome, and the amount of love surrounding him makes him shine all the more.

In this world, in this day and time, we tend to judge people by the way the look. It isn't right, but it is true. But in actuality, beauty really is "inside the skin". I know a lot of people who are unattractive by the world's standards, but are some of the most beautiful people I know. When you see someone who has taken the worst the world has to offer, who has been thru the degradation of addiction and abuse, that has chosen to let God into their lives, you are witnessing a chrysalis. The ugly duckling becomes the swan. As we learn to love, and to lose interest in selfish things, we begin to walk in the blessings God has for us. It is never too late, this side of the grave, to surrender the old and ugly, and put on the new and beautiful. God didn't make no junk, when he made each of us. He has a purpose, and part of that purpose is to love Him, receive His love, and to share that love with others.

Now, I will put on a pot of beans, eat a light lunch, ride a fine motorcycle, go to a birthday party, kiss a baby, kiss my beautiful wife, hug a bunch of family, and eat a birthday cupcake. At 1,325 days sober, it don't get much better than that. Today is the day the Lord has made, and that makes me happy.

Keep the shiny side up.