Friday, November 25, 2011

Don't forget to celebrate

Joey, my nephew, when he was four, got intrigued with dancing. “You play. I dance.” I call it dance but it was more like a combo of gymnastics and some kind of a seizure—gyrating, jumping, leaping, with a few brake dance moves thrown in. One thing it was though was a moment of abandoning himself to unconstrained, unhindered, free-style celebration. But after kindergarten, he decided he was too mature and grown-up for such behavior. Can’t get him to dance anymore. Now he’s entered that stage where everything is about competing with brothers and avoiding adults.

And there is something sad about it. Because he does what it seems we all do. We start out carefree, not worried about what people think about us, usually ready to celebrate—only to grow up, grow old, and quickly learn how to worry about what people think of us. We forget how to celebrate.

Seriousness has replaced celebration--introspection, emo...“I just wanna be real and how can I celebrate since there is so much suffering in the world?” Like one should cancel out the other completely. And there are some Christians who say, “Everyday is Thanksgiving so we shouldn’t celebrate a day.”

But why not take every opportunity to celebrate? I count at least 15x in the O.T. that God says, "You shall celebrate." This was in reference to special festivals His people celebrated. I think God knows our tendency about forgetting to celebrate.

You, who obey the other commandments, don't forget this one: "You shall celebrate."

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