Day 31: Philosophy of Celebration

You might have noticed, but I don't have a book...or an e-book. I haven't done a book proposal, and I barely know how to use my iPhone. Truly. So, me, coming to Relevant, doesn't actually make sense. Except that being an event planner, lends itself to many different faces. So when my dear friend asked if I could be her event assistant at Relevant, I couldn't wait.

I only had one fear...that I would spend the entire weekend feeling out of place and battling the fear that I wasn't good enough. That my blog wasn't funny enough or meaningful enough. That my follower numbers were nothing compared with the greatness of others.

And there it was...waiting to steal my joy. The thief called comparison waiting in the darkness to swallow whole my excitement and enthusiasm.

But, I could ignore all those dreaded fears because my job was going to be focusing on assisting my friend with her event. I put on my event planner hat, and determined to only care about that role.

The only problem is that you can't really ignore your heart. So, even though I was ecstatic about assisting my sweet friend, the truth is I still wanted to matter to those around me.

So, as I was preparing to leave, I asked my friends to pray. Pray that I wouldn't fall prey to the lies that would keep me bound to my insecurities. Pray that I wouldn't compare myself or my blog to those around me. Or my clothes. Or my hair. Or (as stupid as it sounds) my laptop bag.

My hope was that instead of being anxious about not measuring up, that I could celebrate with my sisters. That I would be able to move towards others in freedom, free from what they might think. Free from the masks that we so easily pick up and wear out of fear of being rejected. To celebrate what a good God is doing around the world through this crazy thing called blogging.

And guess what happened. Instead of meeting famous writers, bloggers, and songwriters, I met amazingly genuine people, who love writing to encourage others. I saw real people who are gifted in incredible ways, and are sharing who they are with the world around them. I laughed until my sides hurt with people that I never knew existed. I cried at the words of the most profound thinkers. I ate lots of cupcakes and drank like 18 million cups of coffee.

More than any of that though, I met beautiful friends and was blessed beyond measure by their authenticity.

When we are able to move towards others with freedom and love, I believe we are finally able to celebrate. We are able to throw an outrageously awesome event, without fear that it might not be good enough. We are able to invite family over for dinner without being so neurotic about our house being clean that we wound our children in the process. We can plan a wedding without the thoughts that the next planner over has just done a better one. As we allow the fullness of who God is into our hearts, we are able to celebrate artful events, in every part of our lives.