A Season of Celebrations!

As I look at my calendar for this coming month, it is filled with celebrations: three graduations and a wedding! That’s a lot in just a few weeks time. But, such is the case for many of us.  The months of May and June become quickly filled with events and parties that celebrate the completion of a student’s education (at least that stage of their education), academic and athletic accomplishments, and weddings that inaugurate the start of a couple’s new life together.  This is a season of celebrations.

In spite of the busyness that so many celebrations can bring into our lives, I think we would all agree that celebrations are a good thing. After all, imagine life without celebrations, a life wherein one has nothing to celebrate. That picture is quite dreary. No congratulatory parties. No banners or balloons. No excitement. Nothing to look back on.  Nothing to look forward to.  That would be terrible.  Yes, we need our lives to be punctuated with celebrations. 

But, maybe some of us today feel like we have very little to celebrate in our lives. Or, maybe we’ve not been invited to any celebratory parties. It could be that there are some of us whose lives have recently been punctuated by pain and disappointment, even a bit of depression and despair.  You may be wondering whether or not there is anything worth celebrating. 

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables that tell of something that was lost and then found: a sheep, a coin, and a son. At the end of each story there is joy and celebration. In fact, in the third story, the father whose son returned home throws a huge party complete with the roasting of a whole calf, music, and dancing. It must have been quite a celebration! In the middle of these stories Jesus says, “…I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents...” and “…I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:7,10 – NIV)

Jesus’ words tell us that, even when life is not going the way we would like it to go, if we’ve have been forgiven of our sin and have come to know God as our heavenly Father, we have reason to celebrate. In fact God and all of heaven is celebrating over us. And, I can’t help but believe that he continues to rejoice over us as we grow in our faith, trust him with our lives, and fulfill his purposes.  And, that’s reason enough for us to celebrate!

In the midst of this season of celebrations, let’s remember that our heavenly Father is calling his angels to rejoice with him over our lives as we live our lives in relationship with him through faith in Christ.  He’s that glad to be our heavenly Father.

“He will take great delight in you; in his love he…will rejoice over you with singing.”  (Zephaniah 3:17 – NIV)

Have a great day!