Celebrate!
There are so many ways to celebrate and events to celebrate the events in our lives. The earliest I remember was my brother, Gene’s, first birthday. He sat there at the table. Mother lighted the one birthday candle. No matter how he blew, the candle would not go out. Finally Mother let me blow out his birthday candle. This was great, for that year I blew out four candles. My 3rd birthday was settled the next day. I celebrated that year.
One day a man walked by our house when I was about four years old and asked when my birthday would be. “I don’t know, last year it was on Sunday,” I answered with a quizzical look on my face. He smiled and walked on.
Wedding anniversaries were a day of celebration always a day when the marriage between a man and a woman become truly one through the many disagreements, fears and joys, too. They have achieved I Corinthians 13: 4-7 – Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
“Celebrate love. It is the breath of your existence and the best of all reasons for living.” Maya Angelou
What joy it was to find the invitation to my great grandparents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary and think about their great achievement. I attended my Grandparents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary and my Parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. In 2002, Ed and I achieved this lovely time of life when old age captures
us and we find our bond of love growing even stronger. When we see each other as a true friend, a helpmate and love for each other follows the scripture in I Corinthians 13. When we find the best thing to do for our family is to pray for each of them – from our children and their spouses, 12 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Birthdays, anniversaries, babies’ births, graduations, visits to grandparents, Christmas, Easter – life is a succession of celebrations – private and public. An ever-growing list of remembrances in a life that gives meaning to the word celebrate. And each celebration gives us hope and a look to the future.
When I was a child, a trip to visit my grandparents was the high light of my life. The time when unconditional love was enjoyed to the fullest. When I watched my children and their grandparents, I wondered what made their 
relationship so special. It didn’t matter what we ate, it didn’t matter what their home looked like, it didn’t matter what we did – but doing it with Grandpa and Grandma was very special. I loved the picture of our children playing croquet at Grandpa and Grandma’s house, and the many, many pictures that I hold in memory of the joy they had just being together.
What is it that draws grandchildren to their grandparents? That special love in I Corinthians 13.
Even when distance, health and money limits seeing family, we hold them fast in our hearts. We celebrate each new baby, each grand-baby and each great grand-baby!
When there is no hope, there is no celebration, — there is no joy and life is bleak. Life becomes a succession of days without end and without meaning. We are trapped in a cocoon of time of sameness.
In Bible Times, God commanded His chosen people to celebrate with a succession of feasts. The feasts celebrated the ways God helped his people. The Passover Feast celebrated the miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
How did they celebrate?
- Moses answered, “We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the LORD.” Exodus 10:9
- “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -a lasting ordinance.” Exodus 12:14
- “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.” Exodus 34:22
Why do God’s people celebrate?
- “They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” Psalm 145:7
- “And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.” Isaiah 30:29
“Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.” Ruth Carter Stapleton
Christmas is celebrated around the world and it began when the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, God’s own Son. Even the angels celebrated by singing! This baby brought hope to the earth. And because of his resurrection to new life after his death and burial, He lives and we continue to celebrate. Not only on Christmas and Easter, but each day of our lives as we see His leading in our lives.
We celebrate Jesus because of the hope of eternal life. We celebrate Jesus because each day is His. We celebrate Jesus because He teaches us how to love…Him, our family and others. We celebrate Jesus because He is the life, the truth and the way…..Celebrate!
Don Moen wrote these words:
Celebrate Jesus celebrate
He is risen He is risen
And He lives forevermore
He is risen He is risen
Come on and celebrate
The resurrection of our Lord!