Sometimes celebrating, enjoying, and laughing seem almost inappropriate in a world as broken as ours. We look around and see panic on the faces of everyone we see. Tragedies become ordinary. How, in good conscience, can we laugh and celebrate and eat pizza?

Did not Paul say to Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7)? When we give in to fear, we give in to the dark powers of our day.

Though dark and scary events may take place, our homes and communities can still be bastions of celebration, laughter, worship, thankfulness, and fun. Our love, our friendship, our sympathy can be lifegiving instruments of hope.

We celebrate God's work in the ordinary. We create foundations of connection and relationship. We worship God for the gift He has given us of the world. Nothing could be more lifegiving than that.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Table.