Celebrate Yourself

Dr. Dre Beats...My gift to me for Pastor Appreciation day.

How do you celebrate yourself? This is an important question to ask. I mean how do you really celebrate yourself? If you are a nurse there is nurses day. Do you celebrate that? If you are a boss there is boss's day. Do you celebrate that? If you are an administrative assistant there is administrative assistants day. Do you celebrate that? When you reach a victory in your life such as a weight loss goal, a job promotion, knowing that you made the right decision...do you celebrate that? The lucky ones will work for a company that celebrates these days for them. Many more employers do not celebrate these days. For them it is just another passing moment, another day to clock in and because it doesn't pertain to them they simple blow past it. How do you work through those times?  Jesus talked about "love your neighbor as yourself" and the question one has to ask them self is how much do I love myself? At the cost of being to vain I think it is an appropriate question.

How does one exactly love them self? A good place to start is simply asking, what is my love language? If it is "Words of Affirmation" then I suggest surrounding yourself with TRUE friends that build you up. Friends that don't suck the life out of you but rather ones that as much as they like getting encouragement, they can also give it to you. Perhaps if your love language is "Quality Time" then you should go on a vacation, be it a day or four. If your love language is "Receiving Gifts" if you are not being shown this...then treat yourself! One veteran youth pastor, Jeanne Mayo would call this retail therapy. Is your love language "Acts of Service" then surround yourself with friends that will truly be a friend by doing something for you. The important part on this point and the others that involve friends is to reciprocate. What about "Physical Touch"? Sometimes all we need to celebrate is a simple hug or pat on the back saying "good job....I so appreciate you". I am willing to guess you fall into one of these categories.

Last month was a special time for pastors. I always find it interesting in the world of social networking that people want to celebrate all kinds of days. Most of them relate to their profession. When it comes to pastors, for some reason, people will say "well...your reward must be knowing you are shepherding a large family! You will receive an extra blessing for that." The classic line I got when Tracy and I adopted because we are not successful with having children naturally is "You can rest assured that you are raising many children in your church." Yeah...that is a classy response.  Imagine if your boss told you, "I so appreciate all the secretarial duties you perform. I just know good things are going to come your way." Well in a moment of transparency that simply doesn't cut it and at that point it is no fun to celebrate after the fact. Many pastors rightfully celebrate and brag about the cool thing their church did for them and their family for pastor appreciation day/month which is October. Perhaps it was a gift, sending them on a vacation, taking them out for dinner, etc. There are many MANY more pastors that private message me with their concerns and hurts. These pastors know they can confide in me and began wondering if they really are loved as the pastor. I have had over 20 message me wondering if they really are appreciated...THIS BLOG IS FOR THEM. You need to celebrate yourself! You are worth celebrating!

My love language is "Receiving Gifts". Those that know me know this. I love to hear what other peoples love languages are as well. In my marriage I know exactly what my wife and kids love languages are because when you speak them....you reap big rewards. So how did I celebrate Pastor appreciation month? I treated myself to a new pair of "Dr. Dre Beats" headphones. Yep...when I was in California I saw many people wearing them on the plane. People were talking about how great the sound was and I thought it would be cool to have a pair of those in my office as I love music. So...yay me!

You have to take care of yourself. If you don't you simply will become burned out and drudge through life. It's not vain...it's wise. Learn from the master who taught how to take care of yourself...Jesus.