When was the last time you had a bad day? And I don’t mean a bad day as in a horrible, no-good, really bad kind of a day. I mean a bad day as in just a not-good day. Where something went wrong. Where people let you down. Where bad drivers made you grumpy.
It doesn’t have to be a day of epic badness to put you in a bad mood. Sometimes just one thing can go wrong, and it may not even be a huge problem. Those days are more common, I think, than the others. Just a bad day. And I hope that you are in a place in your life where your good days outnumber your bad days. Even though it may not feel like it, they probably do.
So if we honestly have more good days than bad ones, why do the bad days feel so overwhelming? Could it be we just don’t know how to celebrate the good days when we have them?
Today’s verse is Zechariah 4:10.
A second place pumpkin from the 2013 Sedgwick County Fair, Hutchinson, KS
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.
I thought this verse was interesting because this is God talking to the prophet Zechariah, telling him to be sure not to discount small things. And I think that’s really relevant to our lives right now.
You don’t need to wait for a huge accomplishment to celebrate something. I’m not sure where that concept came from. Every day, I know something happens in each of our lives that’s worth celebrating. No, it may not be earth shattering. It may not change the world. Maybe you didn’t win first place, but you still won something. It means something in your life. And it might even mean something in the lives of people around you. So you should celebrate.
Did you get through a month without a speeding ticket? Celebrate!
Did you make it a week without eating something you’re not supposed to? Celebrate! (with a stick of celery, of course)
Did you get through a day without strangling that one person at work? Celebrate!
Whatever small victory you’ve achieved in your life, take the time to mark it down. It doesn’t have to be a huge affair. It doesn’t even have to include others, although that always makes it more fun. Celebrate the quiet victories in your life, and then when the bad days roll around again, you’ll remember the good days better.
It’s not wrong or indulgent to celebrate, especially when you’re celebrating something that God has done in your life. Actually, that’s encouraged! The more we celebrate God’s work in our hearts, the better!
I mean, how many Christ-followers do you know celebrate the day they accepted Christ? What about the day they got baptized? What about the day that God answered that desperate prayer to find your keys?
Do we celebrate those things? Do we mark those things down? If we don’t, how do we expect to remember them? And if we can’t remember them, it’s no wonder it feels like our bad days are overwhelming.
So what has God done for you today? What small prayer has He answered? What quiet miracle has He done? Don’t let it slip by unnoticed. Don’t let it pass you without acknowledging it. Even if you just stop for a moment to take a photograph or write a paragraph or tell somebody about it.
Just celebrate.
And when you start celebrating the small things God does for you, you might be surprised at how often you end up celebrating.
Always Peachy 