c. scott andreas

I like people who turn things upside down. Throwing stuff up in the air is fun, too. More on these ideas later. I also recently wrote about my (continual) failure to meaningfully reflect upon thoughts, actions, and events.

Part of the point, though, is that there’s something to be said for brief respites from everyday life.

I propose that our weeks should not be “gotten through” but truly lived. Two components of this new “living” are celebration and its opposite — mourning. For the most part, it’s not very difficult to let joy subside or to “get over” something bad that’s happened. Perhaps these events should be made a little more meaningful to us.

I should celebrate things more often. Perhaps even small victories. I refer to the parable of the lost coin:

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.
- luke 15:8-10 (esv)

The coins in question were called drachmas, each worth about a day’s wages. Not a great amount of money, but still not an insignificant amount. I propose this as a standard for celebration. Has something good happened lately? I should go out to eat, or better yet, cook a great meal and invite people over to share it. And I should tell you what I’m celebrating and why so that you may rejoice with me.

The same is true for grief. I imagine that there’s much I could be learning from unfavorable occurrences. Instead, I put on the hard shell of a frown and bad mood to wait out the storm. Could there be meaning to the madness?

But I’m not sure what form this would take. How do you mourn something? I’m familiar with mourning the loss of a loved one. But how do you mourn the loss of a drachma? Or is there a better way to celebrate that I’ve missed?