Celebrating Spiritual Life

How do we celebrate the deepest things in our lives?

I think it is a challenge to celebrate well. Life moves quickly. Even when we decide to commemorate a particular event, all the traditions can get in the way of true celebration.

I live in a culture that tends to celebrate with consumption. Our special days are filled with eating certain foods and spending money. Each holiday has its own requirements, whether they are hot dogs, or roast turkey, or candy canes, or colored eggs.

It is easy for all the requirements and traditions to distract us from the underlying meaning we are celebrating.

It is almost as if the holidays themselves are just excuses to celebrate how much we can spend.

As I ate my hot dogs and watched fireworks yesterday, I got to thinking about celebrating spiritual life. We have ways to celebrate historic events and people whose example we want to follow. We even celebrate some concepts, like independence.

How do we celebrate spiritual life? Are there ways to celebrate spiritual life that do not distract us from deep underlying spiritual truths?

Part of the challenge is that spiritual life tends to be very personal, very individual. Each of us understands spiritual life and depth in our own way. Each of us decides what to celebrate, and how we celebrate it, for ourselves. It is a challenge to celebrate spiritual life together.

For me, celebration grows out of reflection and contemplation. I need a quiet place to remember, appreciate, and begin celebrating. There may be fireworks and joyous dancing, but those usually come later.

Celebrating spiritual life does not require a particular day. Celebrating spiritual life is something we can do every day.

How will you revel in spiritual life?

What deep spiritual truths are you most drawn to celebrate?

[Image by Shkumbin]