"Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you
Come on now
Celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time
It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure
Everyone around the world
Come on!"
Now you know, I can't just type this out, I must sing it to the top of my lungs while dancing around my keyboard. (And, before I get comments-- I know it's a secular song and all that, I'm still singing as I work around the house.) I'm telling you, I love a good celebration! Getting together with others to acknowledge and celebrate the good things that are happening to them is one of my favorite things to do.
However, not everyone celebrates blessings.
"May I plead with us not to be hurt - and certainly not to feel envious when good fortune comes to another person. We are not diminished when someone else is added upon." Jeffrey Holland
This week, an unidentified man won a 400 million dollar lottery. I don't think I can even wrap my mind around that much money. That's beyond life changing. That kind of money means generational wealth for his family. What I find most interesting about this story, is the immediate criticism he has received from some people. I mean, he hasn't even received the check yet, and already ugliness is showing up. He chose to remain anonymous (which I would too). Already critics are saying that was the wrong decision. I am also hearing comments like "The money will change him", "He better give the money away to others who need it", "It must be nice to get money that you didn't earn", etc... There have been a few begrudging comments of "Congratulations."
"Envy is the ulcer of the soul." Socrates
"Envy is downing another quart of pickle juice anytime anyone around you has a happy moment."
"Greed, jealousy and envy are akin to each other. Greed wants more, jealousy hoards what it already has, but envy wants to have what someone else possesses." Charles Swindoll
Now, not all of us are going to know someone who has won the lottery. But, we are all going to know someone who has had successes in life. One true thing about life is that there is always someone out there who is going to be more talented than you, wealthier than you, and have more than you. There will be times when those around you have great opportunities that you do not have. How you react to that is very telling. When you react to someone else's blessing with judgement or ridicule or jealousy, then you need to check your heart.
There has been a whispered, unspoken thought that has sometimes been woven into Christianity-- a myth really-- that you can't be successful and be a christian. Sometimes, we make people feel guilty about their blessing. We make them afraid to celebrate the goodness of God's blessings in their lives because we say they are "bragging." I'll be honest and say I have found myself on both sides of this coin-scared to celebrate a blessing because of not wanting anyone else to feel like I'm gloating or showing off and, looking at someone else when they were celebrating something and saying to myself "They are grandstanding." Hmmmm...
Or we secretly look for them to fail. Maybe we even hope for them to fail because we somehow deem them unworthy of their success. We are often more comfortable in sharing people's misery than we are in celebrating their blessings.
"To be rich in admiration and free from envy, to rejoice greatly in the good of others-- these are the gifts which money cannot buy." Robert Louis Stevenson
"Whenever you hear that someone else has been successful, rejoice. Always PRACTICE rejoicing for others - whether friend or enemy. If you cannot practice rejoicing, no matter how long you live, you will not be happy."
I love how that last quote says to PRACTICE rejoicing for others. I'll readily admit that it is easier for me to rejoice in some people's blessing and harder for me to rejoice for others. I'm human and greatly flawed. I'd like to say that I have gotten to the point that rejoicing with those who I might consider my enemies (although I hate that word-- really it is people that I feel justified in not liking very much-- which is a whole other issue and blog) is my automatic first reaction. Sometimes I come closing to grudgingly eeking out a little bit of happiness for them. And here's an ugly truth, sometimes I fail utterly. But, I'm taking that quote to heart and I'm going to practice rejoicing for them.
As far as the thought of you can't be successful and be a Christian-- all it takes is a brief glance through the bible to know that belief doesn't ring true. I do not know of one parent who doesn't want to see their child blessed, and that's the same way that God the father feels about us.
So, I will continue to celebrate with you all the blessings in your life. I love seeing all the photos of your life on Facebook, the celebrations, trips, children, grandchildren, pets... all the things that are good about your life that you share.
So, since I don't like to have a blog without photos, here are a few from Disney. They sure know how to celebrate with gusto!
No comments:
Post a Comment