Why Celebration Is the Key to Sustaining Spiritual Disciplines
True celebration is an outward expression of our inner confidence that despite life’s hardships, God is good, and there is reason to have joy.
I’ve noticed a trend.
After working with dozens of business CEOs to help them write their books, a sharp divide emerges between how younger and older leaders write their final chapters.
Younger leaders in their forties tend to emphasize the grind, working hard, and end with a call to action. Older leaders near retirement (if they retire) tend to be a bit more reflective and almost always end with a chapter on the importance of something like "pausing to enjoy the journey."
If I were to guess, it’s because older leaders have a bit more perspective. They recognize that achievement is good, but they also see its limitations. They realize that a life lived for climbing the ladder can only be so fulfilling. They also realize that it’s important to pause and celebrate along the way.
Over the past two weeks, we’ve explored a range of spiritual disciplines found in Richard Foster’s The Celebration of Discipline. These include the inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study; the outward disciplines of solitude, submission, and service; and finally, the corporate disciplines of confession, worship, and guidance.
This brings us to the final spiritual discipline—celebration. Of all the disciplines, this might be the easiest for high performers to overlook. It feels unnecessary, frivolous, and even wasteful. After all, who has time to celebrate when there are mountains to conquer?
It’s here we should pause and ask, what is the true value of celebration?
