Let’s Learn To Celebrate

In India they have just celebrated Dwali, in New Zealand on November 5^th they will celebrate Guy Fawkes. In 7 weeks Christmas will be celebrated around the world.

From my 11 years of living in Sydney, Australia, one thing we learned to do was to take any moment to celebrate. Whether it was the World Cup, the visit of Oprah, or the berthing of the Queen Mary 2, the whole city would turn out to celebrate. Tomorrow afternoon the whole of that country will close down for 30 minutes to watch the racing of the Melbourne Cup.

Learning to celebrate is an important thing, even more so, it is a Biblical principal.

‘In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.’ 1Thessalonaians 5:18

Sometimes when you’re involved in development work there seem to be more challenges and finding a reason to celebrate can be difficult. When you are faced with children who don’t have food, a safe place to sleep or facing long term unemployment who feel burdened more than anything else.

At times like this you CHOOSE to celebrate, even if it is small things. When one of our sponsored kids does well on their school report, we celebrate. When our students get to sit their national exams, we celebrate. When our team who have been unwell are healed and back to 100%, we celebrate. The fact that we get to and from work safely is a very good reason to celebrate.

Celebration doesn’t have to be an expensive party, it could just be putting a smile on your face (even at times of adversity) and bringing God’s joy into a situation, office setting, family. It’s being grateful for what you have, not what you don’t. If you belong to a church it’s easy to celebrate each weekend, but what personal celebration do we do?

For me, I like nothing more than getting together with people I care about and sharing something I’ve baked for them. This Thursday as I head out to teach our students at the Osiligi Training Centre, I will be showing them how to make hamburgers – as a celebration of my 45^th birthday. I know that normally you receive gifts for your birthday but I’m turning the tide on that this year and giving instead of getting. I might even bake myself a birthday cake and take it out with us, just for the sake of celebrating.

Celebrating gets us out of the day to day challenges. It gives us hope. It relaxes us. It helps us appreciate one another.

So, what will you CHOOSE to celebrate this week?