Am I Good or What?
On November 15, 2025, I stopped in Walgreen’s of Barboursville to pick out a birthday card for my granddaughter, Ruby Lewis. On November 16, she would be SWEET SIXTEEN! I had looked at every card, including the ones especially made for a sixteen-year-old, but nothing was written in my voice. Those of you who know me are wondering if such cards exist. I assure you they do, and I found one! The front of the card read, “On the day that you were born, God looked down from Heaven and said, (open the card) ‘AM I GOOD OR WHAT?’ Happy Birthday!” I laughed, grabbed the matching envelope, and put them both in the shopping cart.
You may not think that the card was that cute, but to me, it was perfect! You see, like any grandparent, I am sure that those were the exact words God said on the day that Ruby was born. And the day that Landon was born. And the day that little Jesse was born. We all think that God was pleased at the birth of our babies and grandbabies. But if that is true, doesn’t He think that about all children? I am pretty sure there was a time when I was not convinced.
One of my first teaching assignments in the 1970s was in a rural school in West Virginia. I was newly married, driving over an hour to get to work, and not making a ton of money. I was upset that some children would come to school in dirty clothes, unbathed, and sometimes with lice or scabies. Like many people, I did not understand why these families lived in poor conditions, ate unhealthy food, and did not take care of their children. Didn’t they get welfare checks? Didn’t they get free medical care? (Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?)
It was only after I became responsible for children, bills, a job, a house, and indignities of my own (Please do not turn the water off! I have two babies in diapers!) that I understood just a little bit of what my students and their parents had suffered. It took me over forty years to quit complaining and see how lucky I was to have been raised by Ruby and John Wright, my brothers, Jim and Bert, and my church family at Johnson Memorial United Methodist. I never missed a meal, never missed a bath, never wanted for clean clothes, never went without a birthday cake, never wondered how I would go to college, and never doubted that I was loved. I have never doubted that on the day I was born, God said, Am I good, or or what? I know that God is good all the time!
Prayer: Holy God, John said that he baptized those who had changed their hearts and lives. Please make us worthy to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Let us be trees that produce good fruit. Jesus taught us what that looks like. Amen
Becky Warren
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