I've been sprinting recently- barely stopping for a breath.

My days are quick and full and my learning curve is steep. I've learned a whole new language in the past three months- a language that asks questions like ‘what's our takeaway here?' and ‘how do we measure this?‘ It's been a field day for my brain- allowing the high heel clacking, agenda driven, to-do list loving side of me to come out, romping around and making all kinds of quick and important decisions.

I'm being stretched in ways I didn't know we're possible or necessary and I'm growing in areas I didn't know existed. And I love it

But in this ‘to-do list world’- in the midst of my professionalism and my desire to achieve, I've slowly been allowing celebration to slip out the back door. There’s not enough room at the table for delight and celebration and deep breaths- with with my over-achiever sitting at the head, dominating the conversation.

Don't get me wrong- my dreamer is still present, feeding lines to the achiever, giving it direction and inspiration. But celebration has been bumped out- with the achiever bulldozing over her desire for lovely things and champagne toasts.

I know that I’m not alone in feeling like God has been forced to take a back seat. Life swoops in with responsibilities and goals and things that just have to get done, and God gets pushed to our free days- should we ever have one. In different seasons of life, it feels like God fits in different spaces than He used to. It feels like He has shrunk enough to fit neatly in Sunday mornings when He used to occupy the whole week. No matter how hard I try to keep my eye on Him, it seems like my mind is constantly drawn to things that seem to be wholly separate.

I took a quiet moment this morning- my Bible far away and my computer turned off- I just laid there, asking God to meet me for awhile.

As I was snuggled up in my cloud of a bed, the morning air kept far away by layers and layers of down, I began to think about celebration.

In my hurry- in the busyness of my new life- God seems far away and celebration has become a dusty afterthought, and I just don’t want that to be true.

And in that moment, my world finally quiet for a moment, God reminded me of what’s true.

1. Worship isn't limited to a church or even to a body of believers coming together.

Worship is in obedience- fulfilling the duties He's given you to fulfill with all of the love and boldness and courage you can find. Worship is writing and reading and making dinner for your family. Worship is spending a few moments alone, or letting warm water flow over your sleepy face. God is in and around and through everything. He hasn't gone anywhere- we haven't kicked Him out of our lives by becoming adults and having responsibilities. He's still here. He’s in it- all of it- and He always will be, we just have to invite Him in.

2. There are two ways to live our lives- we can live as though nothing is worth celebrating, or we can live as though everything is.

Our lives are teeming with beauty. The steaming cup of coffee on our desk, a surprise phone call from our best friend, a delicious dinner at a new restaurant- all lovely- all gifts- all worth celebrating. Our lives are beautiful and full of stunning meaning- but it's our choice to notice and to take the time to enjoy it.

And that's the thing about God and His beauty. God will never force Himself on us- and He doesn’t require anything of us, for us to be wrapped in His love. He and His beauty sit quietly, bursting with glory, hoping we’ll notice, because He know the lovely things that spring up from our insides when we do.

I want to notice- don't you?