Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood – Day 18 – Tuesday after 3rd Sunday of Lent
To Read:
[Pooh said] “Why, what’s the matter?”
“Is anything the matter?”
“You seem so sad, Eeyore.”
“Sad? Why should I be sad? It’s my birthday. The happiest day of the year.”
“Your birthday?” said Pooh in great surprise.
“Of course it is. Can’t you see? Look at all the presents I have had.” He waved a foot from side to side.
“Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.”
Pooh looked – first to the right and then to the left.
“Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?”
“Can’t you see them?”
“No,” said Pooh.
“Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!”
Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this.
“But is it really your birthday?” he asked.
“It is.”
“Oh! Well, many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.”
“And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear.”
“But it isn’t my birthday.”
“No, it’s mine.”
“But you said ‘Many happy returns’ —”
“Well, why not?
You don’t always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?”
“Oh I see,” said Pooh.
“It’s bad enough,” said Eeyore, almost breaking down, “being miserable myself, what with no presents and no cake and no candles, and no proper notice taken of me at all, but if everybody else is going to be miserable too —”
This was too much for Pooh. “Stay there!”
(Winnie the Pooh – In which Eeyore has a birthday)
From the Scriptures:
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
(Isaiah 49v14-16)
To Reflect:
“Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.”
Pooh looked – first to the right and then to the left.
“Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?”
“Can’t you see them?”
“No,” said Pooh.
“Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!”
I am not a great one for celebrating my own birthday. I’ve kind of run through the gamut of all the usual presents, coffee mugs with ‘World’s Best Dad’ printed on them, personalised bottle openers – very useful but you can only use one at a time, and a whole host the gewgaws and trinkets often found on the shiny stands at Motorway Service Stations. Nowadays I have a much happier birthday if people use the occasion to help others. I love the goodwill brought about by an appeal on a GoFundMe page and the generosity of others towards the causes I support warms my heart. Thank you if you have been one of those people.
However Eeyore is not moaning so much about the non-appearance of particular sorts of presents but the fact that his birthday has not been noticed at all! This can be crushing. In my early twenties our family ran and lived in a Boarding House on the slopes of Table Mountain. My parents and younger brother and sister lived in a flat on the top floor whilst my other brother and I had a room each on the ground floor, a quite comfortable arrangement for two young men who were more interested in the night life of Cape Town than evenings with the rest of the family gathered around the TV – meagre as it was in 1970s South Africa. One year when my birthday came around it was only whilst I was baking a cake to take to share with colleagues that I was asked what I was doing? Having let them know, much whispering ensued and Mum went upstairs to collect my ‘present’. It was a dress shirt two sizes too big for me that I had given my Dad as a gift the Christmas before last. I’m not sure what upset me most, the forgotten birthday, the recycled present, or the fact that a two-year-old gift had not even been opened!
Some may say that one day is just as good as another but the marking of dates are anchors in establishing who we are. We need them to find our place and our way through this world. Pooh and his friends know this, which is why they spend much energy to ensure that presents are eventually procured. If we have no dates we have no roots, we need them to help us grow up good. Without them we do not know who we are and are unaware of the effects society has upon us when we were born, educated, move into the world of work and establish our own homes.
In some communities events such as birthdays are not allowed to be kept which personally I find very sad. In others (I remember several South African Public Holidays that celebrated Apartheid) dates are noted but intentionally NOT celebrated. On the Day of the Vow I used to deliberately work longer hours refusing to take any leisure time to ‘celebrate’ a day that curtailed the freedom of others.[1] Whatever our reasons for keeping or not keeping a particular day as special all of us need to learn that we do not, even at the ‘rather boggy and sad corner’ of the 100 Aker Wood, live in isolation. No matter how gloomy (or Polyanna-esque) we are we must be aware of the times and seasons of those around us, for our lives are wrapped up in theirs and every time we celebrate someone else’s birthday, anniversary or achievement we are adding to our own life.
To Pray:
A Birthday Blessing
May Heaven guard and keep you,
Cause your grain to prosper,
Send you nothing that is not good.
May you receive from Heaven a hundred boons,
May Heaven send down to you blessings so many
That the day is not long enough for them all.
Blessings on Gentle Folk from THE BOOK OF SONGS
To Do:
- Find out the birthday of someone you are close to at church or work and try to mark it this year.
- Spend a time of prayer about important dates in your faith journey. Times when the church family gathered together and put you in the middle. Say thank you and aim to live life differently on those dates in the year ahead.
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Twitter as @SuffolkVicar, and on my public Facebook page Rev Andrew Dotchin
If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to vicar@felixparish.com
Acknowledgements:
Text from ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’ by A.A. Milne copyright © The Trustees of the Pooh Properties.
Line illustrations copyright © The Estate of E.H. Shepard.
Colouring of the illustrations copyright © 1970 and 1973 The Estate of E.H. Shepard and HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Prayers are from ‘The Little Book of Prayers’ edited by David Schiller copyright © David Schiller 1996: Workman Publications.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
These Reflections, ‘Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2024
[1] Thankfully the Day of the Vow has been transformed into the Day of Reconciliation and is now a day to celebrate diversity and unity.
Suffolk Vicar 