2:80 – Celebrating Little Wins

#faithbites #faithjourney #RoadToEdD celebrating

When I used to work at State Farm, my team had food days all the time. My wife asked me why we were having them and I would say we were celebrating this or that. She would make fun of us as and say “I breathed today. Let’s have a food day”. “I woke up today. Let’s have a food day”. While not quite at that level, we did love to celebrate.

In the past day I’ve had to minor to moderate wins. I received word that I earned a Medical Science Educator certificate and my advisor approves of my general lit review. These may not seem like reasons to celebrate but I was on cloud nine. These accomplishments, one taking much longer than the other, are worthy of celebration. A friend of mine, while working on her dissertation, would treat herself to a few M&Ms after writing x number of words. It’s a mini celebration to acknowledge what you’ve done and give you energy for the next steps. Because life is a series of baby steps all put together.

Scripture

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.  With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

“He is good;
    his love toward Israel endures forever.”

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. – Ezra 3:10 – 11

Reflection

Unless the verses from Ezra, we see the Isrealites, celebrating and having a party after laying the foundation of the temple. They still had so much work to be done, but they took time to celebrate what they had done, thanked God for his grace then had the energy to keep going.

If we go back further to the story of creation (Genesis 1), after almost every day, God said what he had created was good. This was him taking a moment, reflecting on what he did, rejoicing in it, and continuing on.

We need to take the time to celebrate and rejoice in what we have accomplished through God. We aren’t talking massive celebrations, but appropriate to reflect, reward, and reenergize.

Charge

Do you build in rewards to your milestones? Maybe it’s ice cream after completing a project. Perhaps it’s playing video games for an hour. Maybe you want to take a picnic. Whatever it is, add a little time for reward and rejoicing. It will give you energy to get through whatever you need to and give thanks to God for his help.

Prayer

Alright God, Thank You. Thank you for giving me strength, knowledge, and perseverance to keep working in this degree. Thank you for reminding us that rejoicing is good. Reflection is great and your love will help is through all things.et us remember to always take time to celebrate all the milestones, both big and strong, that you help us accomplish. In your name, Amen