I’m still in birthday mode and will probably be so on and off during the year. I like the date of my birthday, January 25 for three reasons: It’s easy to remember since it is one month after Christmas. My mother-in-law and I share the occasion; we’re twenty years apart. And on the Anglican calendar of saints, January 25 commemorates the Conversion of St. Paul. I celebrate the irony of our shared day because I love Paul AND he drives me crazy.
Paul says some of the most wonderful things in Scripture and some of the most difficult. He is smug and self-righteous. But not just in spite of those qualities, but because of them, Paul spreads the Gospel far and wide. God leads Paul from persecution into profession. I am smug and self-righteous and without fail both qualities get me into trouble. I pray God will remove these character defects or transform them into something that will bring no harm.
