“I personally think there are too many holidays to celebrate,” I overheard someone say.
Suffice it to say, that statement startled me. It made me think about all of the celebrations in a calendar year. A glance at my planner revealed everything from New Year’s Day, Easter, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, and more. There’s no denying that there are a lot of important occasions. But are there “too many?”
To be quite honest, I don’t believe we celebrate enough. I’m not talking about cake or presents, but just the sheer joy of celebrating the days and moments in our lives. Too often, we get caught up in the hustle of daily life and forget that we’re not promised another breath. And I, for one, believe that we should celebrate those breaths, not only in our own lives but also in those we love. Because truthfully, we are nothing but a vapor in the wind according to James 4:13 -15:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly like to think or talk about death. I know it’s inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s something I choose to dwell on. I’d much rather eat the cake, go to the party, laugh, and celebrate the people I love most. Unfortunately, our years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are numbered. In the scheme of eternity, we’re fading fast.
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (Isaiah 40:6-8).
I have always heard the phrase, “Here today and gone tomorrow.” It’s pretty dreary if you ask me. Nevertheless, there is much truth to it. If life is fleeting that fast … why would we choose not to celebrate everything?
Weddings? Go. That little one’s birthday? They’ll only be little once. That promotion? Treat yourself. A day filled with beautiful weather? Get outside with your loved ones and cherish it! Each day is a day that we should enjoy, seek joy, and rejoice in because the Lord gave it to us as a gift. We should be overjoyed to receive it.
This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
Today is the day to rejoice! Why wait in celebrating the moments He’s blessed us with? Life is too short not to enjoy what we’ve been blessed with.
Serve the Lord with gladness, and thank Him for what He’s given you.
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care (Psalm 95:1-7).
