CELEBRATE!

Celebrate = commemorate, mark, keep, honor, remember.

I began to understand a life principle today. It was one of those “I knew it but I didn’t really know it” issues. A few years ago, I signed up for a weekend seminar led by my dear friends, Bob and Vicki Lichty. Ancient Paths, the seminar was named, and rightfully so. The Lichtys taught the various “rites of passage” celebrated within several people groups ranging from birth to death, and explained how important it is to keep these appointed times; times to celebrate God or a fellow human being.

For instance, the Jewish people celebrate new life on the eighth day after birth with the Brit Milah, the circumcision of the male child which seals the baby as a child of the Covenant God made with Abraham. After the ceremony, the family throws a party…big time! They celebrate the child. What do we do? We may have a baby shower for the mother and we may not. That’s about it.

Remember Kunte Kinte? The main character in Roots was held up to the stars by his father on the night of his birth. The father prayed and gave his blessing to his child, celebrating the new life and proclaiming belief that this baby would be a great blessing to the tribe and to the human family.

Yesterday, a dear friend set me pondering that exciting word, Celebrate. The Jewish family, the African family and so many more don’t just acknowledge the birth of a child, they celebrate the child. The focus is not on the mother and father or the fun that will be had at the party. The focus is on the child. The child is truly celebrated, blessed, gifted, received, prophesied to…and loved. Even more familiar is the Jewish Bar or Bat Mitzveh. In the season of a child’s life when most parents are tempted to wish they had never had children, Jewish moms and dads celebrate the kid!

In our culture, we rarely celebrate a person. Even when we spend a little time and energy and a few dollars to throw a party or take someone out to dinner, the honored guest is very seldom truly the focus of the hour with blessings or gifts or fanfare. We have lost our sense of esteeming others, our feeling of true appreciation for another person. After all, we are too busy, right? About the only call to celebrate we keep is the wedding reception where all eyes are on the bride and groom and most guests bring a gift.

Look around you. Do you see someone who has been a blessing to you? Someone you love and appreciate? Do you see a child who has obviously never been celebrated? Is there a person you know who, obviously, believes in his or her heart it would have been better had he never been born? Is someone you love reaching a time of passage in his or her life?

Get out the party hats and blow the horns! Offer the celebrated her favorite food and lots of it. Dress up! Lavish that special someone with gifts and hugs. Tell the honored guest that she is a blessing to you and how she is a blessing to you. Remember outloud! Send your football fan tickets to see his favorite team play or release him from the “Honey Do” jar one Saturday in appreciation of his hard work for the family.  

Celebrate somebody…celebrate!