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Reasons to Celebrate

Reasons to Celebrate

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We celebrated my pastor for giving 33 years in service to our church today. Everyone in the room could feel the excitement. 

He invited a guest preacher to speak, and you could tell that he had a lot of respect for this man of God. Past preachers, musicians, family, and friends all came to help him celebrate. Even our ministry partners from George, South Africa were there. It was a joyous occasion.  

It made me think about my life, and the things that I sometimes celebrate. 

My husband, and I made it a point to do something to acknowledge our anniversary every year. Sometimes, it was dinner with friends. Mostly though, it was just the two of us being grateful for one more year. I also made my birthday my own personal holiday every year. I take off from work, and do whatever I want for the whole day (I really look forward to it every year). 

But short of waking up every morning, that is pretty much it. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t take that for granted, I just think there should be more to life than just waking up, right?

As I contemplated celebrations, those things seemed to pale in comparison to celebrating 33 years in ministry. Then I realized what I was doing. Why was I comparing my life to someone else’s? Why did I think that what my pastor had done was so much better than anything I had done?

God had to remind me what Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” He helped me see that life itself is reason enough to celebrate. Every day is reason enough to celebrate. Every breath is reason enough to celebrate. And waking up is a big deal, and it should be celebrated. 

So, I learned my lesson. From now on, I won’t look at others as my benchmark for reasons to celebrate. I will keep my eyes fixed firmly on the Lord, Jesus Christ who gives me life. He is the real reason any of us have to celebrate anyway.

Until next time…

Be blessed

Good Old Days

Good Old Days

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Not too long ago, my friends got together to celebrate the birthdays of one of the parents from our old neighborhood. I was so excited. I had this expectation of what the event was going to be like even before I got there. And every time a new person came into the room, we celebrated like it was the first time. Most of my friends have children of their own now, and it was amazing to see how much they all resemble their parents. The funny thing was, they didn’t want to be around us any more than we wanted to be around our parents back in the day. We thought we would be so different when we had children, and here we were…being our parents. Hilarious.

In our old neighborhood, our families were always close. There were probably five families in our circle, and when I think back as far as my mind will allow, they were there. Our parents went through some tough times together, and when we were young, they all looked out for us. That’s how it was back then. Many of us grew up and left the area, but there are still a handful of people left in the old neighborhood. So, it was great to get together and just reminisce about old times. 

And here’s the thing, I never thought I would look back and be glad about those days. I always thought my mother had lost her mind most of the time. Actually, she probably had, because my siblings and I probably took her to a whole new level I’m sure. But, today I am so grateful for parents who cared. They raised us to love the Lord, respect our elders, and help one another. Our parents knew what it was like to struggle, and yet they still found time to call on a neighbor in need. I remember our parents speaking encouragement to one another, going over to each other’s homes when there was a tragedy, or watching out for me and my friends while sitting on their porches in the cool of a long summer night. 

I miss that feeling of community. That feeling of family. Those are the same things that God wants from us today. To be there for one another. To love one another. I think it’s good to look back every now and then, and remember the “good old days.” It just helps us appreciate the journey.

Until next time…

Be blessed!

It’s All In How We See It

It’s All In How We See It

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Today many couples are celebrating Valentine’s Day. This day has many different meanings for many different people. Some good, and some not so good. The origin of Valentine’s Day is not reflective of what we see today. It ranges in everything from the death of a martyr to the celebration of fertility. Those things, although negative, show how the beginning is not necessarily representative of what the ending will be. This example actually shows how the spirit of a people can turn what could have been a day of mourning, and offense into a day of celebrating those we love, and care about. How amazing.

The good thing about this holiday is that although it is seen as a couples holiday, anyone can give and receive love. And it is not just limited to one day a year. We can celebrate love every day. As a matter of fact, God commands it. He put a lot of emphasis on not only loving Him, but on loving one another. The Bible says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

I don’t want to get into the technicalities of this day, because there are as many reasons for wanting to celebrate it as there are for not wanting to celebrate it. I really wanted to just focus on our ability to take a negative and turn it into a positive. How we can bounce back from just about anything. And if we desire to live a life motivated by love, and peace, and joy, and faith, and hope…we can. 

God made us resilient. He made us to be overcomers…more than conquerors. Bad things are going to happen, but it’s how we choose to see it, and how we choose to  walk it out. 

Until next time…

Be blessed!

This year, I’m celebrating!

This year, I’m celebrating!

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The word for today is…Grateful.

With so many ways to communicate, it is sometimes hard to keep up. It’s an all day event to read your emails, update your blog, check in with Facebook, try to stay LinkedIn and write something Tweet worthy. I was speaking with a friend recently and we were talking about how many different ways there are of communicating. The funny thing is…with so many ways you would think that families would be closer and we’d talk to friends more often, but sadly that’s not the case. One of my missions this year is to love more and to not spend so much time trying to keep up with technology. I don’t want to become so technically inclined that I forget how to have a real conversation. The other thing I want to do this year is to learn to celebrate. I’m not talking about just the big things—I want to celebrate everything. I want to celebrate when God opens a door, but I also want to celebrate when He closes one. I want to celebrate the special occasions, but I also want to celebrate the little things like being able to eat ice cream on a warm summer day. I want to celebrate having a great day, but I also want to celebrate the not so great days, because He made it and that’s enough for me. Simply put…I want to live purposefully. I want my life to reflect how grateful I am to God for everything. Even the things I don’t like so much, because I know they teach me lessons I may not have learned any other way. Our God is a keeper. He has kept me through some really rough times and He is still keeping me now. So this year I’m going to honor Him by being grateful, loving more and celebrating often. How about you?

Until next time…

Be blessed