There's Always something to celebrate

Have you heard the saying “Don’t sweat the small stuff, because it’s all small stuff?” I may be guilty of sweating A LOT of the small stuff; however, I’m also guilty of one more thing………….celebrating the small stuff, the small victories. Aren’t the two related? Maybe we should stop sweating the small stuff and start celebrating the small victories? Or maybe it’s this – be faithful in the small moments and the big moments will come? What about trusting our great BIG God to work through us in the small things to achieve great moments for Him?

At the Conn-Selmer University for band directors some years ago, the band director from the University of Notre Dame said something in a presentation that has always stuck with me. Ken Dye said, “do something small for yourself each and every day, even if it is driving to get a diet Coke at the convenience store!” I realized at that moment, that I was guilty of not doing anything for myself in the long workdays of band directing. This advice then led me to realize that I couldn’t accomplish great things with students, unless I pointed out the many small moments of victory they had each day in the classroom. “Yes, that’s the way Twinkle Twinkle Little Star should sound.” “Way to go, you just played the B-flat scale without A-flat.” “Thank you for sharing your pencil with your stand partner.” “The accent in measure 17 had just the right amount of air in the attack.” And the list goes on………I had to stop being SO DARN critical. The students needed to experience more small victories.

Take that a few steps further to year #17 in education when I started working as a school administrator and it felt like most days were full of roadblocks or difficult problems that needed solved. On a long, hard day of feeling defeated, I innocently owned a small victory. And so it began……naming the small victories AND celebrating them in my own work of school administration. The days felt better, and I accomplished more. I even encouraged my colleagues to own them, and if they didn’t, I named victories for them.

If you are a believer in Christ, you may remember that even Jesus addressed this when he taught The Parable of the Bags of Gold in Matthew 25 -- “Well-done my good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.” Faithful in “a little” leads to faithful over much. Celebrate small and it leads to celebrating the big. My nephew, Nash Lindberg, is a living example of this idea……every single day since August 7th, that cutie has pushed to achieve small goals that have led to substantial (and miraculous!) accomplishments. He’s currently grinding through reps of physical therapy each day, where he celebrates many small victories that are leading to a MAJOR victory of him walking without hand crutches one day. So, how about you? What small victory did you have today? What small victories did you celebrate with others? There’s always something to be grateful for, which means there’s always something to celebrate!