Unshackled Moments ~ May 22, 2018 ~ Celebrate The Little Things

Last week I celebrated eight years of recovery, and at the end of the week I plan to gather with family and friends to  honor that milestone. Obviously I don't have a problem with celebrating such big events, but this morning I remember with gratitude the moments when I celebrated an hour with more joy than I did for hitting eight years. In one sense making it that hour was such a little marker, such a small victory, but in other ways, that hour in the first few days of getting clean came with much more struggle and marked a much bigger change than staying clean and sober this past year.

That train of thought led me to another station. As some may know, I spend some of my time going into the local jail to visit one on one with and minister to those who are incarcerated. There are times when this causes some problems for me. From time to time the jailers are slow in responding to the visit being done, and I wait behind a locked door unable to leave as the sound of cell doors slamming shut sends me back to the time when I was one of the unfortunates who could not go home. A couple of weeks ago this happened. Waiting to get out took longer than the visit, and the inmates yelling and the cell doors slamming seemed louder than usual.

I didn't freak out. It didn't trigger my PTSD. And I celebrated. I thanked God for that little victory. I rode my motorcycle home full of joy without worry about whether or not this small victory meant I would always be victorious in this area.

I am reminded of the story of King Saul and victory found in 1 Samuel 14. The Israelites won a battle. It was a victory, albeit a small one, but the war was far from over. Instead of celebrating the victory, Saul declared that no soldier could eat or celebrate until the enemy had completely been destroyed. His son, Jonathan, didn't get the memo and ate with his men. Saul felt furious and nearly killed Jonathan over the incident, which could have cost him the war due to Jonathan and his men being a big part of his ability to fight well and because to kill Jonathan over this would have demoralized the rest of his force. Saul had gotten trapped in an all or nothing mentality that nearly cost him dearly.

Sometimes we are like Saul. We wait for total victory to celebrate. We wait for perfection, which never comes, and beat ourselves up over every mistake, misstep, setback or delay in progress. In the meantime we ignore the call to rejoice, to celebrate that God's grace was sufficient for us in that moment. We are never going to have total victory on this side of eternity. Yes, we will celebrate on the other side in such a way that it will make any and all celebrations on this side pale by comparison, but  we will and do have victories on this side. We should celebrate them.

Celebrate progress without stressing over whether or not there may be a setback later. Rejoice at the time that you respond to that rude person with grace and a smile. Celebrate the moment when you were able to place someone else's needs before yours without expecting anything in return. Do a happy dance over those moments when circumstances arise that would have made you lose it, become fearful or frustrated or fuss at God and despair of life in the past don't cause any of those things. Rejoice when triggers and trials turn you toward Daddy and take you closer to Him rather than are responded to with knee-jerk reactions of your old patterns.

The Spirit is changing and transforming us. The religious word is sanctifying us. He has promised that He will finish the work He has started. There will be total victory in every area some day. But until then, we can rejoice over every small victory, celebrate every instance where we respond to life more like Jesus and less like the old us. A grateful heart takes us deeper into relationship with God, and those little things add up. The truth is that we have much to celebrate, and the war is not over. The victory is assured, and every little advance toward the goal is a taste of the total victory to come. Let us celebrate the little things and use them to keep our eyes on Him instead of our circumstances.


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