On Celebration

I was a few days late with this blog. I apologize. In the past seven days, I worked 84 hours, and I didn’t have a lot of energy left for creative thought. And yes, I was at work on Easter Sunday.

I actually worked last Easter, too; that’s the way Navy life goes. It’s a little annoying sometimes, but it also helps me remember what’s actually important about Easter. Easter isn’t about fun or food or even family. It’s about victory over death. And that’s worth celebrating no matter where I am or what I’m doing.

Celebration

Sometimes in the modern world we forget the importance of celebration. We’re busy running around after promotions and good performance evals, and we take life, and all the things that make it possible, for granted. We’ve forgotten that health, security, food, water, shelter, clothing, and community are cause for celebration.

Perhaps, instead of taking this season to brood over what we’ve lost, we should take time to appreciate all the things we still have. We may not get to have high school or college graduation ceremonies. But we have high schools and colleges. Our graduates may not have as many job interviews, but they have roofs over their heads and food on the table. They may not have graduation caps and gowns, but they have shirts and pants and shoes. A lot of people don’t.

Pain

I don’t mean to downplay the pain. Pain is an important part of human life; it is something to be acknowledged, not denied or dismissed. As C.S. Lewis said, “[God] shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When we are too tired, distracted, or self-absorbed to remember what’s important, pain reminds us what it means to be alive. Only living things feel pain.

But that does not mean pain is the deepest thing in the universe. Sometimes we think growing up means accepting that pain, death, and separation are the deepest reality there is, that stories without happy endings are the more sophisticated or mature versions, the ones that reflect reality.

Fairy Tales

But this simply isn’t true. If we get a little older still – “old enough to read fairy tales again” – we’ll see that at the heart of the universe lies an undimmed joy. The fruit of the spirit is not resignation, cynicism, jadedness, and morbidity. It is love, joy, and peace. The story of Easter doesn’t read like a modern tragedy. It reads like a fairy tale. It’s called the Good News for a reason; everyone really can live happily ever after.

So let’s give up on vaguely complicated thoughts of ‘balancing light and dark’ or ‘finding a truth beyond truth’ and just say, “the good guys should win.” Let’s forget about inventing a new and modern moral system and go back to kindness, gentleness, and self-control. It is the simple things that are highest in the end. The gospels don’t claim to be sophisticated; they only claim to be true. All the depressed philosophy in the world cannot, in the end, conquer the opening of a primrose under a summer morning sky.

Regaining Perspective

This is a particularly important thing to remember right now because, despite the immense power of the human spirit, we are still physical beings. Adam had a body before he had a soul. And that means that physical things – like being stuck inside – can have a very strong effect on our spiritual health. For myself, being stuck inside – at work or at home – makes me lose perspective, and losing perspective makes me lose my joy.

This post is really for me, because I have struggled this week – even on Easter – to remember joy. Sometimes I’m angry about something, and I choose to keep stewing over it rather than letting go. Sometimes I’m in a bad mood and react by over-indulging rather than breaking free of bad habits. Sometimes I’ve accomplished some small task at work and I’m feeling overly satisfied with myself. All of these things, in the end, make me unhappy. I have to learn to let them go.

The world is in chaos right now. The usually unnoticed thing we call “normality” has been turned upside down and shaken. It’s never pleasant when this happens, but when “not only the earth, but also Heaven” are shaken, it is so that “the things that cannot be shaken may remain.” One of my greatest fears in life is getting so wrapped up in the day-to-day plodding that I forget about joy, so busy looking at the ground in front of me I forget my destination. I don’t want to wake up in a decade and realize I don’t remember what it feels like to be alive.

So take some time to consciously celebrate this week. Don’t forget your joy.