{"id":5515,"date":"2020-10-18T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2020-07-05T21:10:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T02:10:43","slug":"celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5515","title":{"rendered":"Celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our family likes to celebrate. If someone gets a new job, we celebrate. If someone gets a raise, we celebrate. We may not always celebrate a birthday or anniversary on the right day, but we celebrate the occasion in one way or another. We\u2019ve even been known to combine celebrating Mother\u2019s and Father\u2019s Day on a date somewhere between early May and late June because it\u2019s the only time we can all get together, but we celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is a God of joy. The scriptures are full of exhortations to rejoice (Psalm 118:24; Philippians 4:4). But did you know that God likes to celebrate as well? Celebrate means to observe a notable occasion with festivities. God likes a little singing (Ephesians 5:29, James 5:13), a little dancing (Psalm 149:3; Ecclesiastes 3:4), a little shouting (Isaiah 12:6; Psalm 47:1), and a lot of laughter (Proverbs 17:22; Psalm 126:2). For a good time, call God. He likes to celebrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning it was so. When God laid the foundations of the earth He looked around and said, \u201cIt is very good!\u201d Then the morning stars and sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). Sounds like a celebration to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Old Testament Holy Days, God told the people to save their money, buy what their hearts desired, share it with others, and rejoice (Deuteronomy 14:26). Sounds like a celebration to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, everyone came together to dedicate it to the Lord. There was gladness, thanksgiving, praises to God, plus singing with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps (Nehemiah 12:27-28). In fact, God had them rejoice with great joy, so much so that \u201cthe joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off\u201d (Nehemiah 12:43). Sounds like a celebration to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord to the city of David, there was much shouting and the sound of the trumpet. David was so excited he danced with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14). Sounds like a celebration to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biblical examples are endless. When the prodigal son returned, his dad threw a big party (Luke 15:23-24). Jesus\u2019s first miracle took place at a wedding (John 2:1-8). In fact, He turned water into wine to keep the festivities going. And there is joy in heaven when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7, 10). Sounds like a lot of celebrating to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God created us to enjoy life. Celebrations are an important part of that enjoyment. They give us a break from our routines. We take pictures, send flowers, write cards, give gifts, have parades, shoot fireworks, throw parties, and eat cake. Celebrations can help us commemorate our past, appreciate the present, and look forward to the future. And we who have Christ in our lives have much to celebrate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think God takes pleasure in joyless Christians leading joyless lives. I\u2019m not saying we should all walk around with fake smiles on our faces pretending to be happy. There are times for quietness and reflection, but God\u2019s presence in our lives gives us much to celebrate. God is the eternal joy giver. If we aren\u2019t doing some celebrating, we might not be as close to God as we should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Father, how I love a happy celebration! You want me to live a joyous Christian life. If I am to be a reflection of You, I need joy in my life. Joy is contagious. Fill me with Your joy and help me to spread it to others.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026 Our family likes to celebrate. If someone gets a new job, we celebrate. If someone gets a raise, we celebrate. We may not always celebrate a birthday or anniversary on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}