cut it. Filling our lives with things that make us feel
better is insufficient and damaging. Celebration isn’t
something we tug on like a coat, but something that
is conceived and produced from within! It is more the
fruit than the seed. Without its origins being the Holy
Spirit, our attempts to “celebrate life” will be shallow
and unsustainable. They will be rooted in a desire to
feel good, and not in obedience to the Lord or praise
of His goodness.
In the past few years I have had a lot of fitting
sessions with garments of praise. After a lot of really
discouraging and clumsy results, I began to rethink
my definition of celebration. What, after all, is it?
What is its purpose? What does authentic celebration
look like for a believing woman? The answers I am
finding have been refreshing and liberating. Truly,
celebration is not a cumbersome burden, but a soulfreeing exercise.
Exercise. Yes, I said it! Celebration is an exercise. Sit
back and think about that for a minute.
Let me say it another way: celebration is a spiritual
discipline, as legitimate and important as the
disciplines of prayer, fasting, or confession.
For some of you, this is not a new concept. For
others, it is something we never considered before.
CELEBRATION IS NOT A
transient emotion FELT
AT RANDOM, BUT AN inner
state of joy EXPERIENCED BY
INTENTIONALLY TURNING THE
SOUL TO PRAISE.
Recognition OF GOD’S
MIGHTY ACTS IS THE SEED
THAT PRODUCES THE FRUIT OF
celebration!
an inner state of joy experienced by intentionally
turning the soul to praise. Doing so takes diligence
and surrender. As we all know, life is heavy with pain
and sparing with overt joy. It takes practice to train
our eyes to see beyond and into the goodness of
God.
Sometimes, celebrating life doesn’t take much effort.
The big events like weddings, new babies, birthdays,
and graduations catch our attention and our hearts
turn spontaneously to joy. It is important to recognize
these events and to celebrate them jubilantly.
But what about the times in between – when life is
characterized by stay-at-home-mommy duties;
financial strain; an argument with the spouse; or
a long, tiring season of waiting? In these times, our
hearts involuntarily close to joy, like muscles cramping
from too much exercise. In truth, there are more
moments in which we naturally feel joy-empty, than
joy-full. What then?
The ancient command still stands: rejoice always.
Obedience has the miraculous ability to produce
what we naturally cannot. Again, an uncomfortable
word, obedience. If you’re like me, you get a little
anxious at the idea. We want our joy to flow naturally,
not squeezed out like a too-empty tube of toothpaste.
Does ‘rejoice evermore’ mean smiling and chatting
happily when we don’t feel like it?
This is not what God calls us to. Obedience does not
mean straining and wrenching to pull on celebration
like a too-small shirt. This is shallow and unsustainable.
Instead, He is beckoning us to step into the presence
of the One who clothes us with righteousness and
crowns us with glory. In this place, we glimpse His
majesty and are moved to worship. Celebration.
Let me say it another way: the discipline of celebration
is not wrenching out of the garments of despair, but
the practice of stepping into the presence of Christ.
We can never talk our hearts into feeling happy. True
celebration comes, instead, by connecting with a
much deeper reality.
In a society where celebration is primarily linked to
feel-good experiences, orienting to it as a spiritual
discipline might take some time. Of all the acts
counted as spiritual disciplines, that of celebration
seems most out of place. Why? Probably because
we tend to think of “spiritual disciplines” as a form
of punishment or restriction. We might view them as
stifling, dreary, or boring. In truth, “spiritual disciplines”
simply refer to areas we intentionally surrender to God
in a disciplined, committed manner. There is great
freedom in cultivating these habits. Our God \