My oldest daughter, Abi, is currently in that stage of life where her precious smile is akin to that of a hockey player who lost too many fights. It seems like every few days she has a new wiggly tooth and every couple of weeks one of them ends up falling out. For the past couple of days she’s had a lot of fun flashing me her “holey” smile. She’s had a tooth that she could bend forward and stick out of her mouth in a pretty goofy way. She’s gotten a lot of laughs out of her snaggle tooth, her changing smile, and her increasingly toothless grin. Just this morning during breakfast she looked up at me and announced with a cheer, “Hey, my tooth fell out.” She and her sister celebrated the occasion with laughs and giggles.
It’s funny how such a seemingly small event in one’s life can lead to such celebration when life is lived with a joyful heart. I can only remember losing a couple of my teeth. I’m sure I lost them all, and then grew them back again. But it’s a passing moment. Momentous to a degree, but not quite on par with graduation or marriage or baptism. Not a moment I would have thought to celebrate. Not until I saw my daughter’s glowing joy from this passing moment.
And I fear that I miss countless moments like that every day. I’m a pretty relaxed and easy-going guy. I try to live in a spirit of joy. But I’ve outgrown that childhood spirit that celebrates constantly the little things. I want to regain that. I want our groups to regain that. I wonder if sometimes we miss celebrating some of the smaller victories right in front of us because we’re holding out for the “big” moments. Let’s remember to keep watch for little things: a group member who shares her heart unexpectedly, a group member that prays in the meeting for his first time, a group member who is reading her bible more, a member who has a tough conversation with his boss about integrity and ethics, members attending consistently. Look for the little things, draw attention to them, and celebrate them with your group – because sometimes those little things are really a lot bigger than we think. And, of course keep celebrating the big moments, too.
