CelebrateTheVictories

Celebrate the Victories! 06/15/2010

I was recently tasked with helping a friend through a difficult time in his life. He had lost a couple family members in recent years and was capped with the loss of his father. I began to ponder what it was I could say to him to help him through this horrific time in his life. It was quickly apparent to me that there was nothing I could say to in any way ease his pain.
I soon began to dwell on how I, how we as humans, we as Christians deal with our pain and an image began to unfold in my head. Most of us have seen the movie “Brave Heart”. Mel Gibson starred as William Wallace who led Scotland in a revolt against England during the Middle Ages. Anyway, the scene that came to mind was one of the big battle scenes of the movie. Each side starts on one or the other side of an open field, a charge is given and they meet in the middle for what amounts to hand to hand combat. It’s a gruesome scene that is quite graphic (definitely a guy scene in a guy movie). But what is really sticking in my mind is immediately after the battle. The camera goes to William Wallace, standing in the middle of this field, covered in blood and bodies lying all around him covering the field. He and others that fought with him then give out this loud yell. A scream, a cry….a victory shout!
They knew the battle was coming. For days anxiety and fear had to be mounting up inside of them. The anticipation prior to the battle had to be overwhelming. The battle itself was for your life, kill or be killed; the physical and emotional demands had to be exhausting beyond description. And when finished, the first thing done… is a shout of victory!
You cannot watch a single sporting event even to this day that when an event is won, hands go in the air and a shout is made. There is a celebration. A physical and emotional display of a hard battle fought and won. Now don’t get me wrong, soon after there is a debriefing, a reflection, review. Watch the tapes. What we did right, what did we do wrong, how can we get better. But before all this is a celebration. Even in battles, war, combat and in “Brave Heart”. There was time to reflect, to lament, to mourn the loss and bury the dead. But before all that was the celebration of victory won.
I have noticed that we as Christians spend a lot of time in reflection, hung up on all that we have been through and may have to go through. There is not a Christian alive who doesn’t make references to the book of Job in speaking of their own lives. And rightfully we should. Our journey is a challenge. In the letters of the New Testament, Paul often spoke of our journey not as a walk, but as a marathon. We are here on Earth, stuck between Heaven and Hell, not just in the physical, but in the spiritual. Our journey is not easy and is not meant to be. We should daily take time to acknowledge that we are in a battle and prepare ourselves accordingly. In Ephesians, Paul speaks of the “armor of God”, and how we should invest time in taking care of and making sure that our armor is battle ready.
What I have come to realize that I, that we as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, what we often forget to do, is celebrate the victories. It’s Sunday morning, it’s been a long week, just one day to sleep in, yet you get out of bed and make it to church, CELEBRATE THE VICTORY! You’re a young teenager, friends pressuring you to go partying, do drugs, drink, you say no. Don’t pout over what you may have missed, CELEBRATE THE VICTORY! Your church has just split, friends and family divided, feeling hurt, bodies lying all over from the battle, but you survive and your faith intact, CELEBRATE THE VICTORY! My friend has struggled to care for his father as he slowly deteriorated and eventually passed. The road was long and hard, few could have survived the battle, but days after his father passed, he gave his life to Christ. He survived the battle! And yes, time should be given to reflect, to mourn and to take account, but let’s not forget to take time to celebrate our victories.