Do you miss the rush? Do you miss seeing people? Do you miss greeting people when you see them? Do you miss smiling at others without a mask to cover it up?
Well, even if we miss it, we can’t bring it back. We can only live in the now, today.
You woke up today, breathed in the fresh air, looked around your room, got up. These simple things to start the day are cause for celebration!
Psalm 118:24 (NLT) says, “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.“
Thinking about all that God has done, how faithful He is, and the life I live, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with His love! The Psalms were written with the reminder to praise. Reading through the verses, each one gave account as to how faithful God is, what He has done, and what He will do, all resulting in the response of praise! Even in the times when the psalmist was experiencing hard times, heartache, exhaustion, despair, etc. I will always be amazed at how he ends with praising his God anyway. In Psalm 7, David writes of how God is His refuge but also asks God to deliver Him and avenge him against his enemies. In verse 17 (NIV), he wraps it up by saying, “I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness; I will sing praises of the name of the Lord Most High.”
In Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline (1978), he writes of how celebration comes in different forms, from singing and dancing to making noise. David gave a clear picture of celebration to God for the things He has done no matter what circumstance he was in. Sometimes we can celebrate what we tangibly see, praising God for what He has done based on what we see. I can only assume that if many of us were in David’s story, we would easily celebrate killing Goliath, celebrate the parades after a victorious conquest, or celebrate the becoming of the king. And yet David did not have the mindset to only celebrate when these great victories and promotion happened. He celebrated and praised God no matter what situation he was in, including the times when he was alone to watch the sheep, his own father and brothers not believing in his great potential. Would we celebrate if we were in that situation? Would we celebrate being alone with sheep? Celebrate killing the predators that come along to harm the sheep? So maybe we’ll never know because we can’t live out David’s story. But we can reflect on where we are now.
Over the years, I have learned to apply Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV), learning to rejoice in all circumstances, even when it’s hard. This comes by choosing to focus on godly things, His fruit, His goodness, and all He has done, through the power of the Holy Spirit. I have found that if I try to force myself to be happy, it doesn’t always work out. What does work out is allowing His presence to overflow in me so that I can overflow in that joy. I love the reminder of how joy is a fruit God gives and it cannot be taken away. Maybe you won’t always feel happy, but you can always be joyful. That is cause for celebration.
There are so many verses and promises that we can read from His Word that bring great joy and peace. Here’s another one.
Psalm 136:1-26 (NIV) all repeat, “His love endures forever.” What a cause for celebration!
Celebrate today by finding joy in all things. Will you accept the challenge?
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