There is Always a Reason to Celebrate... aka Light is Coming for You, My Friend!

Somehow, once again, we planned a church meeting for a Thursday night? You guys, I know? But it was a great meeting, throwing out some out of the box ideas on how to better love our City... still, you know I missed y'all over at #fmfparty!

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: CELEBRATE

{GO}

Celebrations are often limited in our minds to special occasion events.

We wait... we plan... we tend to go all out, Pinterest-style, when we can... we are intentional in celebrating, whether it be a birthday, a wedding, a promotion, or a job well done.  

Celebration normally comes at the end.

I don't know about you... but I know for me, it's often times in the midst of a thing when I am really needing to find a reason to celebrate.  In the middle of a hard season, we can believe the lie that darkness overwhelms and that we have no power... no hope... no light within us to dispel the shadows that taunt us.  

We don't think we can wait until we get to the light at the end of the tunnel, because - you guys - the tunnel is DARK.

It is heavy and makes it hard to breathe... we are feeling our way around in blackness and we begin to question all the things we once knew for sure, back when we were walking around in the brightness of day.

Here's the thing... 
There is ALWAYS a reason to celebrate.

Let's not wait... Let's not think we have to push our way through and claw and crawl our way through to the end before we can have a glimmer of light to lead the way.

That, my friend, is a lie...


It's so often in the darkness that we remember that Light is a Person and the One who is Light walks toward us.

Light is always there... beside us, within us, and always - He is coming for us! His nail-scarred hands stretched out, arms open wide... and if you lean in and adjust your vision, you will see a smile spread full across His face as love and joy and grace and mercy freely spill out in abundance. 

Like the prodigal Father, He runs to us.

So can I encourage you not to wait? 

Don't wait until the end of whatever it is you are going through to celebrate! Whether this is an amazing season and you are nailing all the things, or it is a difficult season and you are barely getting by... there is always a reason to celebrate... always a reason to sing!

Singing, I believe, sheds light on all the dark corners of our lives and when we purpose to celebrate --to declare Truth louder than the lies, and to offer a sacrifice of praise when we still don't have any answers... when we choose to celebrate even before the end... that is when faith arises and light shines bright and darkness has to flee! 

{STOP}

When I first saw "Celebrate" I must admit, my first thought was something like, "Oh man... I've got nothin'. I'm not celebrating much right now." But the Father gently reminded me that there is always a reason to celebrate and that He is pouring out and lighting my way... so this post was preaching to my own self right here! 

I'm in the middle of a few things and some days it doesn't feel like I will make it through to the end to celebrate.  But God is reminding me --and hopefully you, too!-- that He is our reason. He is worthy of all of our praise and all of our worship and He showers us with blessings and wonder and grace and when we celebrate that, it's just so much easier to see and remember! 

And when we remember that there is a reason... and that Truth is a Person... we remember that in the end, He wins --we win! ...and there really will be a celebration like none other!

Of course - as He was speaking to my heart, I was thinking of this song... one of my favorites! Can I encourage you to turn it up, sit back, and sing it out!

                                                                                All Sons & Daughters, Reason to Sing

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click here to read what others have to say about "CELEBRATE"

The FMF lowdown: I can't say it enough, really - I love my tribe! The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights and then  we write our hearts out and hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday and Friday (and sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage and uplift... where we share prayer requests and praise reports... where we talk food and friends and we find support and kindred hearts and we are reminded that life is good and God is good and we are not alone... and then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts and our fingers do the talking tapping and we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!