My birthday wish for you
On the day you turn 31
Is that you may trust God more
By the time this year is done,
And that you will love God more
Than ever before you did,
As you learn of His love for you
Since the time that you were a kid.
May you feel safe in the arms of God,
Knowing yourself to be in His care.
His eye of love rests on you now
As it does all the time, everywhere.
—
You enter the 31st year of your life,
And I wish that you happy will be.
And I hope that you serve higher ends
Than your self,
And live for your God
And for somebody else.
May your joy be a joy
Tested well in the fire
Of trials
And of the gaze of the Word.
May your peace be a peace
That in pain does not expire,
But finds new strength
And always rises again.
May your year 31
Be a year fought and won
For the cause
Of the King of all kings.
And then will surely
Be happy, my friend.
A new song of great joy
You will sing.
—
May your ear stop and listen this year
To the sounds of the crickets and birds,
May God’s creatures serenade you this year
And teach you God’s ways without words.
Each bird sings the song
That God gave it,
And each cricket chirps with all of its might.
So be who God made you to be,
Shine with your God-given light.
—
Happy birthday, my friend!
May this year, start to end,
Be the happiest year of you life!
And though trials may come,
They can be overcome,
Though the room with them sometimes be rife!
May the light of the truth
That you learned in your youth
Enlighten the path you now trod.
May your 31st year
Be a year you draw near
To your Maker,
Your Friend,
And Your God.
—
As you turn 31,
May true virtue and honor your spirit adorn
And humility always be worn.
May ill vices, ill temper,
And fear
Rise and flee,
And your soul
Be found happy and free.
—
Last year your turned 30,
Which you once thought so old.
This year you have turned 31
I am told.
You tell me now 40
Is the crest of the hill,
But I wonder when 40
If you will think so still?
Some folks say 50
Is when life really begins.
I guess that sounds “nifty,”
But, a few words my friend.
As you go through the years,
You are still the same you-
Though your days be a mountain
Or just a pebble or two.
You change and mature
And you learn from the past,
But one thing is sure-
Your life forever won’t last.
Every moment we walk on
Eternity’s brink,
And we enter its realm
At a time we least think.
So now that you’ve attained
To ripe old 31,
Try to live out every day
Like it was your last one.