Celebrate

In the book, "Celebration of Discipline," by Richard J. Foster, one of the disciplines he talks about is the discipline of celebration. I know, it's funny because it's the title backwards. :-) This book is one of my favorite books, and I enjoy re-reading the parts I underlined. Anyways, in that section it talks about the importance of celebrating life!

"Celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ. He entered the world on a high note of jubilation: 'I bring you good news of great joy,' cried the angel, 'which shall come to all the people' (Luke 2:10). He left the world bequeathing his joy to the disciples: 'These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full' (John 15:11)."

"Celebration brings joy to life, and joy makes us strong."

"The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. That is why celebration is a discipline. It is the result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living."

Ways that he lists to practice celebration (that is in paragraph form but I'm turning into a list:

-Singing, dancing, shouting, worship
-Laughing
-Accent the creative gifts of fantasy and imagination
-Relish the creativity of others: go to art shows, musicals, concerts...
-Make family events into celebration and thanksgiving: birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries
-Celebrate the smaller things in life too: a new job, finishing a major project, receiving a raise
-Spend time with friends
-Set up regular times to play games, watch movies, or read books (by yourself or with others)

Sometimes I think, "Ah, but some of these things cost money. And I don't have much money." But not all of those things require money! I'll add to that list hiking, going somewhere to take pictures, going to the park, long conversations at Starbucks, going to a neighborhood or apartment complex pool with friends (especially when there aren't 500 kids there), and bonfires.

I love birthdays because it's time to celebrate that person for who they are! It's a reason to get together for dinner or hanging out, and it's time for birthday cards telling them how much you appreciate them. It's a time when you allow yourself to just do things you enjoy and not be stressed. On my birthday I usually take the day to eat junk food, watch TV, read books, go to the park, etc. and do stuff without feeling bad about it! I spend a little bit of money on myself (usually by using coupons that places send me like Kohls or whatever for my birthday), and spend time with friends.

But, I also think it's important to do fun things and celebrate life the rest of the year too! Sometimes having something fun planned in life is a good thing to look forward to in a long work week. Even if it's something as small as a really great book you can't wait to get home and read for 3 hours.

I have no idea what this looks like in the life of someone who has kids. I assume that their idea of celebration is very different because it all has to be kid-friendly stuff, but I imagine that all the holidays are extremely fun! I had a friend at work say, "I'm pretty sure when you have kids there just isn't anymore fun." I said, "No way! That's when you get to take the kids in the car to see Christmas lights, and see their excitement in the stores and on Christmas morning when they get gifts. You get to dress them up for Halloween and see their joy over too much candy. You get to give them Easter baskets and go to Disney World and watch them learn to ride a bike. It's a different kind of fun, but I think it will be great." Which brings me to the point of saying, part of celebrating is also celebrating someone else! Someone else's joy and life. Kids, friends, family members, etc.

If you feel like your life is boring and lame, go find something fun to do. :-) There's plenty of things out there to do by yourself as well as with other people. Yes, I wish I had the money to travel awesome places, but I don't. So I will make my little corner of the world fun anyways.