Celebrate

Being an Indian I've never really celebrated Diwali, until this year. In fact I've never really celebrated anything in life. Not anniversaries, not Christmas, not Easter. Nothing! If you ask me why I don't really have an answer but I can tell you that's what my native church taught me. They said faith is about praying and practicing and not in celebrating. It was a thing of the pagans. And so for 22 years I believed and lived that lie like a subservient Christian. And somewhere along the road my envy towards those who celebrated life turned into bitter contempt.

I looked down on people who celebrated life events and simple thrills like they mattered the world to them. I couldn't do it so they shouldn't. I never cut cakes on my birthday. I never dressed up on Onam when the rest of the world dressed up in beautiful sarees. I never decorated Christmas trees or wished for gifts from Santa because I was taught to not believe in clever gimmicks. Christmas never appeared in the Bible so I din't celebrate. I was brought up wise and practical. Or so I thought.

When my noisy neighbors came out of their houses and burst crackers, laughed hard and hugged each other, my beliefs faded. I only saw community there. I only saw fellowship. And that's exactly what my blind faith had deprived me of. Fellowship. I was in my sleeping pants but I din't care then. I ran out and bought diyas and wicks and oil. I lit the lamps up and joined in the celebration. For the first time I smiled and waved at my neighbors and it felt better than the sophistication my blind faith gave me before. I turned on some loud Bollywood music and hugged my friend and I felt a slow liberation from the irrational convictions that chained me away from life. Right then I was thankful to God for making life so beautiful and opening my eyes to see the beauty in what lay right before me.

                                

It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, North Indian, South Indian, American or African. All you need to do is celebrate. Celebrate a friend's birthday, your birthday, your parents' anniversary, your dog's teething, your baby's first step, friend's first car, daughter's selection into the soccer team, anything and everything that celebrates life over death. Because in celebrating each other you're building fellowship, you're building stronger bonds and shaping happy humans. Because in celebration and community and fellowship we find life.