It doesn’t seem right, does it? Celebration should be the one thing in our life that doesn’t require discipline. Discipline is reserved for the hard things like eating healthy, practicing the piano, or sitting through the preliminary rounds of American Idol.
But, in the midst of our busy lives, celebration is often overlooked, forgotten and put off until later, “when things settle down.” Celebration, the very thing we need to stay joyful and balanced, becomes the one thing we never make time for. Our lack of celebration is killing us.
The busier we become and the more responsibilities we take on, the more important it is for us to be intentional about taking the time to celebrate.
This thought occurred to me today as I was reading Mark Buchanan’s book, “Your God is Too Safe.” He describes celebration as the way we bring a small part of heaven down to earth.
“Celebration is the practice of lifting our eyes from our preoccupation with all the work we have to do and the trouble we’re in and the money we owe and the reputation we strive to keep…It’s training ourselves, in the midst of and in spite of all that might be amiss, to see heaven…It’s the discipline of setting joy before us so that we might throw off everything that hinders and run the race marked out for us–that we might endure and not lose heart and not grow weary.”
Celebration is the quickest way to slow down and enjoy your life. A welcome reprieve in the midst of stress and busyness. It seems like an obvious thing, but when is the last time you stopped everything in your life and celebrated?
It’s interesting that in the midst of the Old Testament, often thought of by people as the tales of an angry, taskmaster God only interested in smiting, we find a God that continually demands His people to celebrate.
“‘Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread…Celebrate the Feast of the Harvest…Celebrate the Feast of Weeks…Celebrate the Passover…Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles…Celebrate.’”
(“Your God is Too Safe,” pg. 242)
God knew that celebration was a key part of healthy and balanced living and made it a mandatory part of life. I think He was onto something back then that we need to be applying to our lives today.
The most bitter people in the world are often the most ungrateful. Celebration focuses our attention on the things in our life we have to be thankful for…it’s one giant dose of gratefulness.
The act of celebrating acts as a scrub brush on our heart, keeping it clean and free from the buildup of life.
Before you begin making excuses to yourself about why you rarely celebrate, realize that celebration comes in many forms and sizes. It doesn’t mean you have to throw a dinner party for 100 people.
The key to practicing the discipline of celebration lies in constantly coming up with excuses to celebrate.
Did your daughter get an “A” on her math test? Take the family out for dinner. Did your friend just get the promotion he desperately wanted? Make them a cake and have them over for dessert. Did your wife have a hard week? Have a “You Made It Through a Hard Week” weekend getaway. You get the idea.
The point is that celebration is a mindset, a heartset. A discipline that requires effort and intentionality, but one that leads the way to your best life.
Popularity: 2% [?]
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I have found that celebration does not need to cost money. My favorite thing is to spend an hour at the library reading magazines. Walk around the neighborhood admiring the neighbors’ gardens. Cuddle on the coach with the TV turned off. Do something you never have time to do. Celebration is necessary, I agree.
@ Catharine,
That’s a great point. It’s true that often we associate celebration with spending money…maybe that’s part of people’s reasoning for not doing it that often. Often it’s the celebrations that don’t cost anything that mean the most to people.
Cameron
Loved this article! Celebration is a way of owning and honoring our accomplishments … and set the stage for more of the same.
Blessings,
Andrea
Cameron,
I’m an advocate on celebration. I view it as Andrea does. Too often we diminish our accomplishments and quickly forget them. Celebrating big and small steps invites us to become our own cheerleader and champion.
I gave you a Stumble too!
Blessings,
Lorraine
http://www.powerfull-living.biz/blog
Thank you so much for this article. I have for long thought that i must have a great achievement to have a celebration. Thinking about it i realise I have many things to celebrate. I will begin tomorrow.
{ 1 trackback }