Saturday, August 2, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 8/3/14

TODAY is my sons birthday. The exciting thing about his birthday today, is that we get to celebrate it today! We use to celebrate on the 3rd until he went off to Bible College. Then it seems like he was always gone on his birthday. I remember once taking a cake to the camp grounds where he was helping! I think we did that several times! After he married, we celebrated on a day when we all could get together. When families live close together it’s not so hard, but when miles separate them, you have to make plans. Weekends were always good!

THINKING about his birthday caused me to think about the song. When did it first appear? Who wrote it? I found some interesting tidbits and want to share them with you. It all began in 1893 when two sisters were working at the Louisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, one as a teacher and the other as the Principal. The sisters combined their talents and expertise and wrote a little song that they called "Good Morning to All." They had it published in a collection of "Song Stories of the Kindergarten!" Some 31 years later a man names Robert H. Coleman published the song (again) without the sisters’ permission, adding a second verse as "Happy Birthday to You!"

THE SECOND verse became so popular that the first verse was totally forgotten. After a court battle the Hill family legally owns the song, and is entitled to royalties. However, you do not have to pay to sing the song. But if you consider commercial purposes then you would!  Another tidbit I find interesting is that the little Happy Birthday song, is the most popular song on everyone’s chart. And why not; it is sung just about every moment of one day, in everyone’s life! I wish I knew the words to the first verse though!

DAVID wrote many songs of which I believe, Jesus sang! "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!" Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!" Psalms 100:1-2 David was a talented man! We always picture him as the warrior, heading off to battle. But David was a man filled with loyalty and justice. He desired a heart of integrity and he wanted God to look upon him with favor. He writes many times about singing with gladness of heart and being filled with joy. Sounds like the ‘happy birthday song!’

I DON"T know if God thinks of our birthdays as a day of importance. He didn’t give us a date for His Son! However, we do! We always remember the day we were born, and as a child, we looked forward to our birthdays, and could hardly wait until we were older! Jim would tell our grandsons that when they became 6, they would grow a mustache, just like his! Adam (our first grandson) was five. I asked him if he was excited to become 6 on his birthday. He said; "I am going to be 7 and I am changing my name to Kyle!" Now, where did that come from. Could it be, he didn’t want a mustache? And Kyle; no one seems to know where that came from!

"HAPPY the people to whom such blessings fall! Happy the people whose God is the Lord!" Psalms 144:15 David had been offering a prayer for prosperity for God’s people.  He was asking that their sons would be like plants full grown. Their daughters like pillars in a palace. That their store houses would be full and their fields filled with cattle and sheep.

"HE IS LIKE a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers!" Psalms 1:3 My prayer for my son is that he would continue to walk with the Lord; to love his wife with the passion of a man in love; to respect his sons and to continue becoming the man God has created him to be. A life well lived for God; is a life well spent. "Happy Birthday to you; Happy Birthday to you: Happy Birthday to Danny; Happy Birthday to you!" By Jane Ann Crenshaw 7/31/14

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