Today, 6th January 2025, I am celebrating my 40th Birthday.
Okay, so those who don’t know me very well are looking at me and thinking, “There’s no way she’s only forty.” And those of you who do know me will know that I celebrated my 57th birthday last month.
But I’m telling the truth. I was ‘born again’ on 6th January 1985.
In the weeks before a baby is born, the family can usually detect that the day is drawing near. This was pretty much the case just before I was born again. A friend from college had invited me to go to church with him and I had been going along every Sunday for a few weeks. I was very keen to attend with him and his Mum and Dad at every opportunity. On 6th January 1985, this same friend and his parents were having a little get-together in their house, which was a short walk from our family home. This guy, Kieth, with his girlfriend, Mandy, asked me if I had been born again. This was the first time that I had heard the expression ‘born again.’ They told me that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Typically, when a baby is born, it’s quite messy and the baby cries a lot. It was a bit like that with me. Keith asked me to pray a prayer, but I couldn’t speak; all I could do was sob and sob. I gave my heart to Jesus there and then in that front room. (Incidentally, I lost touch with Keith and Mandy not long afterwards and, without the wonders of the internet in the 80s, I have no idea what became of them).
As the parents among us will doubtless agree, new babies change and develop at a surprising rate. They seem to learn something new every day. Before I was born again, my parents described me as “a wild teenager.” I was a foul-mouthed, drinking, smoking, (and the rest), skipping-school, going-nowhere mess. But almost immediately afterwards, a transformation began, which no-one could deny. When I tell the students in the sixth form where I work, that this is what I was like when I was their age, they can’t believe it.
Our beautiful grandson is nearly 7 months old now. I am so thrilled to see how he is developing and growing. He has learned so much in such a short space of time. He can sit up, laugh and take hold of a toy. But he can’t walk or talk or go to the toilet and he needs a lot of help with feeding. And this is exactly what we would expect of a child his age. It was the same with me. My good friend Paul will tell you that, although some things changed almost immediately, others took much longer; for example, I didn’t give up smoking until 1986. (Young people: don’t start smoking. Even though I gave up smoking nearly 4 decades ago, I still have problems with asthma from time to time).
I also subscribe to the concept of lifelong learning. Even when he has stopped growing physically, our grandson will continue to develop his personality and values and will learn new skills. I have been on this journey for 40 years, but I am still learning, adapting and changing.
We’re going to the pub this evening. I think it would be rude not to raise a glass in celebration of my 40th birthday.
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