"A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth." - Ecclesiastes 7:1 Today, April 8th, is my birthday. It's funny how the older one gets, the more anticlimactic birthdays become. I've always believed that they (whoever 'they' are) should make it so that no one has to work on their birthday. That should go for all that person's loved ones as well. Everyone associated with the birthday boy or girl should have the day off, in order for them to be catered to, as royalty. From the moment a person wakes up on their birthday, there should be music, dancing, presents, cake, and various adult beverages showered upon them. Poems and other works of art should be created in their honor and shared from the highest of rooftops for all to hear and see. Radio stations should be given a list of songs, favorites of the birthday honoree, to be played continuously all the day long. Upon seeing proof of birth date, all restaurants should provide all-you-can-eat-free buffets, all amusement parks, movie theaters, and zoos should provide free admittance, and Starbucks should always throw in an extra shot for nothing!
A person's birthday should be... awesome! When you lay your head down on your pillow at the end of your birthday, you should be in a deliriously joyful haze... wishing you could do it all over again, and again, and again.
But in the real world, you have to go to work... and dump the garbage... and the restaurant you picked for breakfast only had one waitress working 'cause all the rest called in sick, and she's not about to sing to you, let alone bring you a free dish of vanilla ice cream with a small candle in it.
I wonder if that's why the Holy Spirit inspired the joy-inspiring pessimist who wrote the poem of Ecclesiastes to say that a person's death-day was actually better than their birth-day? Or maybe they just realized that death, although a sad thing, is a better time to reflect on a person's life, character,... good name? I mean, as sad as the death of a pre-born or young child may be, the death of one who has lived a longer life is of greater sadness, at least in the Jewish mindset. Why? Because, the longer one lives the better we are able to know their character. This quote from Mendele Mokher Seforim says, “Among the Jews, a birthday is no holiday, but the anniversary of a death, that a Jew remembers.” *
On this, my birthday, I am reminded that I'm getting older. Statistics state that I may well have passed the half-way point of this life. So, I'm asking questions today. Questions like: If it were not my birth-day, but my death-day... what would I have left behind? How is my character? Is my name good, better than fine perfume? In other words, does my reputation stink... or not? I desperately want to be a man that reeks... of the fragrance of Jesus. I long for Him to be what consumes my thoughts and my behaviors.
When all that becomes the case, perhaps I'll be able to say, along with the apostle Paul, "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" (1 Corinthians 15:55), because my death-day will be better than any birth-day I've ever had, or could have ever imagined!
*Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish Wisdom. New York: W. Morrow, 1994.
