Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15
Our God is a God of celebration. We see celebrations throughout Scripture—babies born, Red Sea crossings, found sheep, returning sons, and so forth. Paul tells us in Romans 12, in a section labeled “Christian Ethics” in the CSB, to rejoice with one another.
As women, we are often celebrating one another in big life moments. We squeal excitedly when we get the “he asked me to marry him!” calls and diligently attend (and often plan) showers and parties to celebrate marriage. We spend money on trips and dresses, gifts and makeovers.
When the pregnancy test comes back positive, we rejoice, throwing more parties and showers, buying more gifts. We bring meals to new moms and families adjusting to an additional mouth to feed.
For women, especially those in their twenties to forties, those celebrations are standard. We rejoice over relationships and babies most often in our friends’ lives. While it’s not always easy to rejoice with those who rejoice over those things (especially if we want them too), it is something we’ve become good at doing. There’s a script to follow.
Additional Celebrations
However, I’d like to suggest that we add to the script. If we want to follow in God’s footsteps and celebrate with our sisters (and brothers) in Christ, we need to celebrate more than babies and marriage.
Things to Celebrate in Your Friends’ Lives
- God’s work. Have you seen your friend really grow in a spiritual discipline? Or perhaps you’ve seen God answer a prayer in her life recently? Or maybe her friendship is an answer to your prayers! Celebrate what He’s done.
- Accomplishing a goal. This could be a long time coming, like finishing a year-long reading plan, or something like finally trying out that workout class.
- Moving to a new place. Buying a house or renting a new place is exciting, expensive, tiring, and worth celebrating.
- Victories at work. Getting a promotion is worth a party, but so is nailing that presentation or completing a big project or working up the nerve to have that conversation with your boss.
- Anniversaries. Yes, marriage anniversaries ought to be celebrated by your whole community. Consider celebrating other anniversaries, too—work anniversaries, anniversaries of friendship, anniversaries of living in a city, and so forth. Make some up if you need to!
- Anything. It doesn’t have to fall into any category to call for celebration. Maybe you had a tough but needed conversation, or had a great day, or met a celebrity you always wanted to meet, signed a book deal, or cracked the code on a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Whatever it is, celebrate it!
The It’s-Not-Bragging Rule
In order for you to be able to celebrate all of those things with your friends, you have to know about them. My friends and I instituted a rule I like to call the “it’s not bragging rule.” Very catchy.
When we have anything we want to celebrate, we text the group. And it’s not considered bragging. We’ve actually had to call someone out on this when she tried to pass off a goal accomplished as a self-deprecating joke. That’s not allowed!
Instead of considering it to be bragging, we consider it an invitation to rejoice with those who rejoice. We’re inviting them to share in the celebration. The group has celebrated book deals and work presentations and “40 Under 40” lists, alongside weddings and babies.
How to Celebrate
We have a script for celebrating marriages and babies, but now that we’ve made additions to the script in terms of what to celebrate, we’ll need to make some additions on how to celebrate. For those of us who aren’t married or don’t have children, there isn’t a standard celebration. Even birthdays can be a little weird—who plans it? Who pays for it? Who’s invited? So, for all your friends, but especially those who haven’t been thrown a shower, here are some ideas.
Creative ideas for Celebrating Single Friends
- Texts, gifs, emails, cards. We’re going to start with something simple, OK? Sending a text that says “congratulations!” or “way to go!” is super easy and still meaningful. Add in a gif for a smile. Better yet, write a short note on a card and send snail mail. I also have emails saved in my inbox from years ago where a friend sent an encouraging note.
- Send a treat or a meal. With all the options to send digital gift cards and order food delivery online, this is an easy celebration. It doesn’t have to be a whole meal, but it’s a fun way to celebrate someone’s milestone.
- Go out to dinner. Celebrate in person! I always recommend chips and salsa for such celebrations, but let the celebrant decide. Get dressed up fancy or select to wear PJs and order takeout.
- Give a gift. You could choose a piece of jewelry to mark the occasion, send a book that made you think of the accomplishment, give a gift card to a home store, or head to your friend’s wish list to purchase something from it.
- Throw a party. Get a guest list from your friend and take care of all the details for her. Surprise parties are also great, depending on the friend. (For the record, friends, I do not want a surprise party.)
- Plan a shower. If your friend has done such a great job celebrating you—rejoicing with every step of your relationship and showering you with baby gifts—consider throwing her a shower. Buy her that standing mixer she won’t buy herself, the full set of silverware, or some high thread count sheets. Celebrate her friendship.
I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that God calls us to celebrate with one another. Let’s rejoice with those who rejoice—over babies and weddings, yes, AND over growth and accomplishments and friendship and fun.
ABOUT ELIZABETH HYNDMAN
Elizabeth reads, writes, and argues about the nuances of punctuation. Officially, she’s an Editorial Project Leader at Lifeway. She managed to find a job where she uses both her English undergraduate and her seminary graduate degrees every day. Elizabeth grew up in Nashville, sips chai lattes every chance she can get, and believes everyone should have a “funny picture” pose at the ready. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
