Celebrate
Remember when we were over and done with 2019 and ready for 2020 to arrive?
Looking back, 2019 was a walk in the park compared to this roller coaster of a year.
Somehow it is already July.
Somehow it is only July.
You might side with the majority and be one of the many who is ready for 2020 to be over and done with.
But we still find ourselves living through this world altering year.
(And we haven’t even gotten to the election yet!)
Only 184 days until 2021.
The word for the month of July is celebrate.
Celebrate.
Celebrate doesn’t appear to be the proper word for July.
Or this year for that matter.
Perhaps a better word for July would be exhausted.
Or confused.
Or challenging.
Or unprecedented.
Back in December when I scribbled down 12 words for 2020 I never expected life to be this way.
None of us did.
None of us expected a global pandemic.
None of us expected protests, rioting, and much needed racial and social changes and conversations to be taking place.
None of us expected sports and concerts and work to be cancelled.
None of us expected we would be wearing masks in public.
None of us expected stores to be out of toilet paper.
How can we celebrate when everything feels heavy and hard and unknown?
How can we celebrate when there is so much hurt and pain and fear?
How can we celebrate when we cannot be together?
Yet, I see a thread of hope woven through it all.
Through all of the pain and fear and heaviness.
Through all of the questions and answers and information.
Hope is there.
Do you see it?
It can be hard to spot depending on the day or moment or thought taking up space in your mind.
But hope is there.
We see it in the positive and hard changes our world has made.
We see it in the closeness social distancing has created.
We see it in the backyard weddings, online Worship gatherings, and social media feeds full of good news.
We see it in the difficult conversations and guilt inducing realizations.
We see it in the moments of silence and Zoom happy hours.
You see, there is something worth celebrating.
Maybe celebrate is the word we need.
If we look back on the past few months for a minute (maybe, just maybe) we will be able to find moments worth celebrating.
I’ll go first.
We got a dog! Pancake is here.
My wife and I have grown closer.
The time I’ve spent with God has been richer.
I became an uncle.
We watched every episode of New Girl.
Racial reconciliation is alive.
I ate a really good peach.
My second book was finished.
I bought a Space Jam hat.
A friend and I started working on a new business.
I’ve been baking more (which is great, except I’ve become more doughy).
It’s important to celebrate what we have made it through or what we are making it through.
We can dance in the rain.
We can sing in the storm.
We can party during the apocalypse.
(for the record, I do not think this is the apocalypse)
I continue to come back to the words: in all that is heavy there is hope.
And I will continue to come back to them.
And this is heavy, but there is hope.
After all, the truth wasn’t meant to be visited once, but time and time again.
There are only 184 days until the year 2021.
Let’s celebrate well.
What are you celebrating?
.. .. ..
With hope,
Tanner Olson
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WTS
Tanner Olson is a writer, speaker, poet, spoken-word artist, & creator of Written to Speak.
He created Written to Speak to share hope & announce love.