Things Worth Celebrating: More Than a Win

Things Worth Celebrating: More Than a Win
If you had told me this morning that by the end of the day I would be standing on a soccer field coaching a bunch of exhausted little boys through their second game of the day, I probably would have asked you what you had done to deserve such punishment.
Today was the first soccer game of the season for both of my boys.
Ken took James to his game, so I didn't get to see it, but apparently the boys played hard, worked together, and came away with a win. I got the highlights afterward, which is basically the soccer-mom equivalent of watching the movie trailer instead of the actual movie.
Meanwhile, Henry was my responsibility.
His team had one game scheduled.
Until they didn't.
At the last minute, another game was added, turning our nice, manageable Saturday afternoon into a doubleheader.
Game one was everything you would expect from a group of little boys at the beginning of soccer season: excitement, energy, running in approximately seventeen different directions, and absolutely no concept of conserving energy for later.
They were having a blast.
They played hard.
They cheered.
They ran.
They were everywhere.
Then game two started.
And approximately five minutes in, I could practically hear the collective thought:
“Wait... we're doing this AGAIN?”
The energy started disappearing.
We were short a coach, so I found myself on the field doing my best to keep everyone motivated and subbing kids out whenever we could. Except we were also short players, so our ability to give everyone a nice, refreshing break was somewhat limited.
By the middle of the second game, we had reached a new level of soccer exhaustion.
Boys were lying on the field.
Boys were crying.
Boys were asking if they could please just go home.
At one point, I was pretty sure I was simultaneously coaching, encouraging, negotiating and performing minor emotional counseling.
And yet...
They kept going.
They got back up.
They ran.
They played.
They encouraged each other.
And eventually, they finished.
They didn't finish because they suddenly weren't tired anymore.
They finished because they kept going even while they were tired.
And as I watched those boys today, I couldn't help but think about how often we do the same thing in life.
There are seasons when everything feels exciting and new. We're energized. We're motivated. We can see where we're going, and we're excited about what God is doing.
And then there are the second games.
The seasons when we've already given everything we had and somehow we're being asked to keep going.
The prayer we've prayed for the hundredth time.
The situation we've been trusting God with for months.
The relationship that requires more grace than we think we have.
The responsibility that feels heavier than it did when we first said yes.
The season where we're simply tired.
And I think sometimes we make the mistake of believing that being tired means we're doing something wrong.
But Scripture tells us something different.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9
Notice that Paul doesn't say if we become weary.
He says let us not become weary.
He knows we will get tired.
God knows we will get tired.
And He doesn't shame us for it.
Instead, He reminds us not to give up.
Because our faithfulness isn't measured only by how strong we feel.
Sometimes faithfulness looks like taking another step when you're tired.
Sometimes it looks like praying one more prayer.
Forgiving one more time.
Showing up one more day.
Choosing obedience when you don't feel particularly spiritual.
Trusting God when you don't understand what He's doing.
And maybe those aren't the moments that feel like victories.
But they are worth celebrating.
I've been thinking a lot about how easily we celebrate the obvious things.
The win.
The good news.
The answered prayer.
The accomplishment.
The goal we've been working toward.
But Scripture repeatedly calls God's people to remember.
Remember what God has done.
Remember His faithfulness.
Remember His provision.
Remember His promises.
In Psalm 103:2, David says, “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Don't forget.
I think that's important because when we're tired, it's incredibly easy to focus on what we still have to do instead of what God has already done.
We see the next game instead of remembering the one He already helped us finish.
We see the unanswered prayer instead of remembering the prayers He has already answered.
We see how far we still have to go instead of looking back and realizing just how far God has already brought us.
So maybe this week, we should celebrate a little differently.
Celebrate the big victories, absolutely.
But also celebrate the quiet ones.
Celebrate the person who keeps showing up.
Celebrate the prayer that hasn't been answered yet but is still being prayed.
Celebrate the courage to keep trusting.
Celebrate the small step forward.
Celebrate the grace God gave you when you didn't think you had any left.
Celebrate the fact that His mercies are new every morning.
Because sometimes the miracle isn't that God suddenly makes the second game easy.
Sometimes the miracle is that He gives us the strength to keep playing.
And when we finally reach the end of the day—exhausted, sweaty, slightly sunburned, carrying approximately fourteen water bottles and wondering why we voluntarily signed up for youth sports in the first place—we can look back and say:
God was faithful.
He gave us what we needed for today.
And tomorrow?
Well, thankfully, His mercies will be there too.
That's something worth celebrating.