Celebrating the Signposts in Our Lives

Looking at the book of Esther and the story of how the Jews were spared from total annihilation, it is not difficult to see God working in and around the circumstances surrounding their great escape, even though ‘God’ is not explicitly mentioned throughout. When we see how the characters were at the right place at the right time (or wrong place at the wrong time for Haman), and how Esther just seemed to always gain favor from the people around her, God’s works just become incredibly obvious. They are the visible works of an invisible God. No doubt when we look back at our own lives, we do notice God in the experiences that we’ve been through, the circumstances and the people we meet. O how wonderful God has been! In His wisdom and sovereignty, He has given meaning to those countless moments in the past. They have shaped me to be who I am today.

But one thing that caught my attention was how the Jews celebrated the occasion of their salvation from the hands of their enemies. They began to set apart that day as a day of feasting, not only once, but each and every year, passing it down from generation to generation. They wanted to remember God for what He had done for them when He turned situations around. Not only that, they wanted their descendents to remember as well. The Jewish calendar is filled with various kinds of feasts and celebrations, all of them in remembrance of the faithfulness of YHWH. We Christians celebrate the birth of Christ as well as His resurrection. Our churches celebrate anniversaries. We all celebrate our birthdays and wedding anniversaries. But I think it will be really interesting to begin celebrating the turning points in my life. I think I would like to set apart a day or days to remember God for some of the significant signposts in my life… if only I could remember when they happened…