A Forgotten Task

Today I spoke with a dear friend who straight up knows how to encourage. And in this Jesus-orchestrated, time-stopping, raw and completely unpolished conversation, I was reminded of something important.

Celebration.

Too often, we as humans find ourselves trapped in our own isolated, lonely, and often meaningless (that’s right, I said meaningless...) world of To Do Lists and Goals and even Disappointments that we simply forget how to celebrate. We forget what it means to step back and breathe and say, Wait a second. I’m actually growing. Good things are happening. Things are changing.

Sometimes it actually takes someone else to pull us aside and say these things to us, to allow us to really go there, to boldly and deliberately step into that terrifying place of… here we go… reflection.

And as we begin to step back and let go of the control that we think we have over our own lives, may I dare say… we gain awareness. With each step back, we gain a keen and valuable insight into our own stories, our own personal moments and experiences worth celebrating. And it is in this place that we begin to leave room for the very voice of God to enter into our perceived failures, our perceived shame.

Here’s the Truth: Our Creator celebrates your utter existence. He celebrates each breath that enters and leaves your body. He celebrates each eyelash, each fingernail, each brain cell. Our God is a God of celebration.

And it is time we join in.