As I type this at the dining room table, my wife is clattering in the kitchen. She mutters to herself, happy words, contented words, eager words. You see, she’s making chocolate chip cookies. As I describe her, she chortles. She is happy.
This is how we celebrate in our home. She makes the cookies. We watch stupid Youtube while we dunk still-warm cookies in milk. We laugh together.
And we celebrate lots of things. She finished an editing project. I finished a writing project. We survived Monday.
And she is such a blessing to me in this. See, I tend to not celebrate. As soon as I finish one project, maybe I take a day off, but then it’s right into the next project. Stop to celebrate? Why? I have other things that need to get done.
But she knows this wisdom well: It is right to acknowledge that good that has been accomplished. It doesn’t have to be anything big. For us, it’s an hour on an evening after the kids have gone to bed. And in that time, we get to rejoice together over freshly-baked treats.
Let me encourage you to learn what I am still getting into my heart: Celebrate the little wins, the big wins, all of them. This life beats us down enough.
Go eat a chocolate chip cookie.
Jonathon Mast: Author 