Tip of My Iceberg

When I make it through stressful times, my natural inclination is to celebrate.

That often includes chocolate and a party atmosphere.

Irma and Harvey are gone. Clean-up is underway here and every place storms hit.

More hurricanes are on their way. It’s the nature of the season.

Ryken turned three Saturday. We were all ready for a reason to party. Anticipation made his wait excruciating. (And we thought waiting for Irma was hard.) So celebrated we.

All the family in town went to Crayola Experience. Lest you think it lame, they do a boatload of incredible things with crayons. From melting crayons to make drip art to enjoying a play space where they want you to draw on anything with markers and chalk to coloring figures attached to magnets that danced by themselves to music.

Who knew colored wax could be so fun?

To top the day off, there was a birthday party full of Mickey and the Roadster Racers–one of his current favorites. Including a Roadster Racer racetrack cake. I made the cake, but Tiffany transformed it into a speedway course, complete with a grassy infield and Donald and Mickey pushing for the finish line. Add ice cream and presents and you’ve got more than enough moments of awe and joy to fill the heart of any three-year-old.

Such elation spreads to everyone in close proximity. It was fun to laugh, tell bad jokes and tease one another about things that didn’t alter life. We played together. Enjoyed one another’s company.

Celebrated.

Watching my family interact and smile about sweet, silly things was more than celebrating three years of young boy’s life.

It was a celebration of life in its totality. An acknowledgement of good times in spite of–and often in light of–difficult and trying situations.

Granted, we didn’t fare badly. Minimal damage. Tiffany and Ramsay finally got power restored and headed back to Miami on Sunday to assess how their apartment. Because of the hurricane, they were able to be part of this celebration and get their minds off what they didn’t yet know.

We will always have tragedy in this life. Some have it more than others. Hard times aren’t meant to be measured or compared. We each have what we’ve been given. We all have the chance to deal with disappointment and pain, disaster and discomfort.

It’s why we need each other. To remember the good times that have been part of our lives. To recall victory in difficult circumstances. To recognize how we pushed through trying times and didn’t quit.

God gives us community, the opportunity to share life with one another. He gives us the strength we need to persevere when all we want to do is opt out of whatever is uncomfortable in the moment.

He’s in it with us. If we invite Him in.

God celebrates and delights in us. He longs for us to come to Him with our need for His comfort and perspective.

What better way to celebrate than with the One who makes all of life possible.

That’s an eternal party.