Cause for Celebration

This past weekend was one of celebration.

For one thing, it was a holiday weekend, although I’m not sure how I really “celebrated” Labor Day, other than taking a day off from my paid job and laboring around the house (my unpaid job). But there were other reasons to celebrate, as well…

On Saturday afternoon my son Ben, starting his third year at Appalachian State University, called and asked, “Hey, are you watching the game?”

“No, I’m cleaning the house. What game?”

“ASU and Michigan … we’re beating them pretty good right now. Um, you really should turn it on.”

So I put down my dust cloth and found “the game” on the Big Ten Network, which I didn’t even know we had. It was early in the third quarter and ASU was indeed beating 5th ranked Michigan, much to their delight and Michigan’s dismay. I sat down to watch. I’m not a huge football fan, but it certainly beat cleaning the house, and even I knew this was BIG.

In the end, Appalachian’s Mountaineers – National Division I-AA Champions for the past two years – stunned Michigan 34–32 in one of the biggest upsets in college football history, ultimately knocking Michigan clean out of the ranking of top 25 teams. A great cheer for underdogs everywhere went up across the country, but nowhere was it louder than in Boone, North Carolina, where they tore down the goalpost and paraded it down Main Street to the Chancellor’s house. And I hear the Hardees’ sign read, “Where is Ann Arbor?” It was a not-so-subtle reply to the geographically challenged sportscaster who wondered where in the world Boone was. When the team returned that evening there were thousands of fans waiting to welcome them home. In short, it was one heck of a celebration.

Late Sunday afternoon Hannah and I enjoyed another celebration – the marriage of my friends and co-workers Amberly and Josh. It was a simply beautiful service, held in a perfect outdoor setting on a warm September afternoon. I could feel fall in the air on the banks of the South Holston River, and was glad to know it was exactly the sort of day they had dreamed of and planned for the past year. We were blessed to be a part of their big day.

ASU’s victory and my friends’ wedding were big celebrations, hard to miss in the parade of days we march through routinely. But life is filled with lots of small things to celebrate, too. Rather than once in a lifetime, these small causes for celebration happen more often, but are less noticeable.

My friend Sue keeps a “Joy Journal,” in which she lists things she can celebrate every day. Some days her pages are filled with the blessings she sees all around her, but other days she has to look hard for something to celebrate. It may be something as simple as, “It didn’t rain today,” or more likely this summer, “It rained today!” Either way, it really doesn’t matter what she’s celebrating, but that she’s aware of her blessings on a daily basis. She cultivates “an attitude of gratitude.”

Here’s a Biblical truth that also bears remembering daily:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” ~ James 1:17 (NIV)

So find something to celebrate and thank God for each day. A grateful heart is a content heart, and big or small, He’s the source all of our blessings.