31 days || one: why celebrate?

{photo from Geronimo Balloons via Somewhere Splendid} 

After much deliberation, I finally discovered a topic for this 31 day journey, and just in the nick of time. October 1 is here, and I am ready.

This month, I want to celebrate.

Way back in January, I dedicated myself to experiencing this year as one full of joy and celebration. I wanted to drink in every moment as Jordan and I lived our lives no longer burdened by school or homework or exams. As I look back to that post, written now ten months ago, I cannot believe the life I see before me. I am so grateful, because He has been gracious. He has given us the year I envisioned.

Sure, there have been ups and downs, days of sorrow and frustration to accompany the happy. The summer, in particular, was difficult on my own family, as my brother moved to Nashville and my mother experienced some health scares that proved to be pretty stressful. But underneath it all, there has been contentment. There has been joy. And there has been celebration.

That’s the word I wanted to dwell on when I began these 12 months of 2011, and it’s the word I want to dwell on for the next 30 days. I want to celebrate with you. I want to be reminded of the celebration hidden underneath the stress and sadness, the celebration that comes when gathering with those you love, when experiencing rest and quiet, and when realizing that you are becoming, for the most part, who you always hoped you would be.

I believe celebration is a big enough word to handle this month. I’m trusting that on top of the ideas I’ve already brainstormed (for the record, there are 28), inspiration will come as the days pass and as the situations arise. I hope you’ll join me in finding ways to celebrate throughout this month, not just in parties and in get-togethers, but in the quiet and in the mundane, in the waking up and the lying down. Maybe, just maybe, after these 31 days are up, we will all be a little bit more in tune and in awe of the lives we’ve been given.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to celebrate.