Wednesdays Word: Celebrate.

When life brings hard times, I always find a need to celebrate and give thanks. I am often reminded of the scene in the movie, The Grinch, when even after everything the Grinch had taken, the families all came out and joined each other and celebrated. Family is something to celebrate. Life is something to celebrate. Any relationships that can withstand sin, stay together, and grow closer should be celebrated.

Psalm 40:1-3
 I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.

Small triumphs, victories, and good news need to be celebrated. And praised.

Perspective is so crazy because you can take the same life circumstances and give them to 2 different people. One will see it half full. The other will see it half empty. Am I raising my kids to see the glass half full? Or will they get bent out of shape over something very surfacey? And be negative?
Will they grow up believing that things and money are important? Or am I showing them relationships are key and we fight for those.

We have made choices here to celebrate small things. Small things often lead to big things, but sometimes they don't. So finding joy in every triumph I think is crucial to parenting.
We see where we want our children to grow and be, but are we celebrating the steps to get them there? Or are we exasperated with the process?
And then the same for our own life? Am I exasperated with the journey and process to get from point A to point B, or am I living and celebrating each day for the joys we had?

What will our kids know about us one day when they know daddy lost his job? Hopefully, they will know that after 4 years of college he went back and got another degree in HVAC to change careers and get out of the housing industry.
What will our kids know about our rocky road of family planning and miscarriage? Hopefully, that we kept fighting for our family despite the many we lost.
What about when we sold our house and couldn't afford another one right away? Hopefully, that we re-built one instead.

How do you raise a fighter? If they are not put in situations to fight, there won't be any fighting...

I want to be a fighting mother. And a fighting wife. Conflict is not just hardship within your own life, it spreads into your whole family. I have witnessed a lot of conflict in family as I am sure many have. People make some pretty weird choices in their life. I have seen it in myself, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, cousins, grandparents, and every single relationship you can think of within a family. People make bad choices. People make selfish choices. People make choices that forever damage relationships within a family. And sometimes we are not in control of that.
I want to raise my kids in a way where they will always extend an olive branch. To people who don't deserve it. To people who are hard to love. Aren't those the very relationships that we are tested to the core? Our culture walks away from anything that is hard, requires work, or is messy. We cover the truth. We cut people off. We live in denial that we must be right and everyone is wrong. We justify walking away and ending relationships very quickly. Ultimately, God is mighty to save. (Zeph 3:17)
My kids are just not going to grow up that way. I want them to fight for relationships, for people, for truth, and for standing up for what is right. To celebrate people.

Celebration at a young age, over triumphs big and small, will ultimately arm children with the mindset to fight battles.

Our kids are going to need to be confident in Christ, in their support system, and in confrontation and making it right with people..... if they didn't grow up watching you do that, then why in the world would you expect to raise children like that?  If we are celebrating our victories regularly, it motivates us to keep fighting and taking on challenges. The same with our children. If we can give our kids situations to triumph, they will ultimately learn God is with them and they can do all things through Him.

The only way we can celebrate is to win. The only way we can win is to fight. And the only way we can fight is with the Armor of God.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

If that is our attitude, how do we lose? How does that lose, ever? The way I see it, either way I win. I win with the person or I win because I never gave up hope. And we need some people speaking hope into todays relationships.  I am a firm believer that God can redeem any life.

Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? Which one will you be? I pray my kids, no matter what conflict arises in relationships and in their own lives, will be part of the solution and not the problem. And they will celebrate their victories.

Lets make our generation one of redemption. And celebration.