Celebrate

Can you hear the old Kool & the Gang song in your head? “Celebrate good times, come on! Celebrate!” It’s no secret life can be full of hard stuff, or the next task, or just more chores. Slowing down long enough to stop and celebrate the good times is important and life giving.

Last weekend we had a “cancer free” party. Over 60 folks dropped by our house to celebrate with us. It was fantastic! Everyone smiled and enjoyed the relief of seeing physical proof that God still listens and answers prayers. So many hadn’t seen me in a long time, so viewing my hair growing back & tan cheeks from getting to swim mid day made my returning health real for them. I was humbled by how many were brought to tears as relief flooded their spirits in a new way. They had heard I was through treatment and cancer free but getting to see the living proof made a difference.

It made me realize anew how important pausing to celebrate is. I’m a list kind of person. I make the list because I love crossing done items off of it. But there’s always more lists to make. Stopping and looking over what’s been done is encouraging. Pausing to notice what God has accomplished can build our faith.

I totally relate to the disciple of Jesus, Thomas, who after Jesus’ resurrection on Easter said, “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe” (John 20:25). Even though he’d been there when Jesus had performed countless miracles he struggled to trust that God could do this next one.

Thomas’s actual reaction when Jesus appeared to him makes me smile. The disciples had locked themselves in a room fearing what would come next. The anxiety was thick. Then Jesus appeared in the room (notice no unlocking of the door was necessary). He looked at Thomas and offered him the chance to touch Jesus’ wounds and believe. Thomas in awe, just declared his faith- no touching necessary (John 20:28).

Each day there are new opportunities to trust. How will we handle them? I’m humbled by my inclination to doubt vs believe. Remembering how God has answered prayers can help us move from doubt to faith faster when faced with the next challenge.

In just these last few weeks we’ve celebrated multiple graduations, multiple birthdays, me being cancer free, our 30th anniversary 😳❤️, and today the freedom we enjoy in our country. Wow! How many prayers went into all those milestones? Soooo many.

Let’s stop and celebrate good times. How can we notice what God has done and praise Him for it? We just got back from the mountains. There was still patches of snow on the ground, so we got to see the first wildflowers. More than we’ve ever seen before.

Because the ground was still so wet, the mosquitos were also thick. We have a choice when faced with annoyances. Will we focus on them and miss the beauty?

It was fun to write in my gratitude journal today that I saw 43 different types of wildflowers. Long ago a good friend encouraged me to find 3 things a day to thank God for. Now I keep a gratitude journal and write in it most mornings. It’s amazing what we can see when we’re looking. Even through cancer, I filled up one journal and had to start another. Most days included 10 or more items to be grateful for. Wow- even during one of the hardest years of my life.

I recently read in Ps 4 the msg, “I have God’s more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees.” Let’s enjoy God’s more-than-enough today and turn ordinary days into celebrations of joy! 🥳

P.S. The sunflowers in the first picture are from our anniversary trip to Half Moon Bay. We got to see this truck returning from the field after having just picked the flowers. It made me smile how similar it was to the landing picture from this website- a truck going through life, gathering flowers along the journey!