celebrate

I received the following text message today from my niece about her 2 yr old son: "Nick used the potty chair for the first time today. Yeah!" What a great thing to celebrate. Of course my goofy mind started off in a weird direction. Why do we celebrate birthdays instead of milestones. Of course I'm old enough
to say birthdays are not a big deal anymore. Buy really, where did the event of celebrating birthdays
begin & why. After some quick research, I discovered that birthday celebrations started as pagan rituals (kinda like Halloween). Now I'm not saying we need to give up birthday celebrations, so don't send me any hate mail. But, why don't we put more effort into celebrating milestones. Like, baby's first step, toddler is potty trained (I can think of some great party decor for this one), kindergarten graduation, dental braces (gift idea: dentist gift card), sports accomplishments, driver license, college acceptance, etc, etc. Most of all, how about a celebration when a person takes Christ as their personal Saviour (child or adult). Other religions celebrate religious life events (baby baptism, first communion, bar/t mitzvah, church membership, ?, ?, ?). Why don't we put more celebration into the most important decision of a person's life. This major choice decides where that person will spend more time after life than life itself. This decision will most likely affect how that person lives their life morally. This decision could be an answer to prayer for many people. What a change this decision can make in a person's life. So why do we not celebrate it with more enthusiasm than any other celebration. Maybe we could declare a "Salvation" holiday and Christians everywhere can celebrate together.

After changing many grankid diapers this week, I am very happy for my niece that her son is beginning to understand potty chair usage. I hope to be just as happy for all the future milestones in his life and hope (& pray) that some day we can celebrate enthusiastically his acceptance of Jesus into his heart. Luke 15 ...make merry & be glad..."

*maybe I just like to party*