Family Ministry Blog

What You Celebrate, You Replicate

Do you want to push your kids toward a life of healthy habits and character? Do you want to help them develop a firmly-rooted, authentic, resilient faith? As parents, celebration is one of the most powerful tools that you have in your toolbox!

by Ben Holden on March 28, 2022

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What you celebrate, you replicate.

I have heard, read, and seen this quote in a lot of different places. I have tried to track down its origin, but haven't been successful. It seems to be one of those principles that many leaders hold to, but it isn't attributed to anyone.

It's true though, isn't it? The things that we celebrate, we will see them again. Celebrate good grades on a report card and guess what you are more likely to see at the end of the next grading period? Good grades! Celebrate hard work and a job well done and what will you begin to see more of? You will see good results that are rooted in hard work. Celebrate someone's good attitude? Yup, you'll see more and more of that good attitude.

Celebration helps to point us in a positive direction.

What we celebrate, we replicate. Why is that? We love success. We love affirmation. We love praise. Once we get a taste of that, we are more likely to do it again. Yes, sometimes that can be a prideful issue or simply chasing a good feeling, but it doesn't always have to be that way. Often our celebrations help to point us in a good direction as we see the positives of something well accomplished.

Celebration is a powerful method of teaching our children.

As parents, we use this method to encourage, teach, and develop our children. Isn't this how we teach small children to walk? We don't sit down with charts, graphs, and diagrams to teach them how to balance and take steps. We don't point out their errors, rate them on a scale of 1-10, or demand that they do better. We help them, guide them, and encourage them - all with a happy voice, smiles, and exuberance - as they work through this. And what happens when they take the first steps of their own? We clap, we cheer, we squeal with glee! We tell them how great they did - we celebrate! What does this lead to? This leads to them wanting to keep trying this incredibly difficult thing that they are trying to do. Our celebration keeps them motivated, keeps them going, and boosts their determination.

Celebration is a powerful tool in helping our children build character.

Let’s take this same concept and apply it to the spiritual discipleship of our children. Does this truth still apply? You bet it does!

What if we treated the discipleship of our children like we did when we taught them to walk? What if we were intentional, deliberate, encouraging, and patient - and then we celebrated!

When we celebrate the character and fruits that mark a follower of Jesus, what do you think that will produce? It will produce more of the same.

And the more that these things happen, the greater the likelihood increases of them becoming habits and markers of a developed character.

As Christians, our hearts and our character are transformed to look more and more like the heart and character of Christ. When we celebrate humility, a servant's heart, love toward others, as well as solid spiritual habits, what happens? These things will be replicated.

Celebration is one of the greatest tools that we have in our discipleship toolbox. It shows that we are paying attention. It reinforces and marks growth. It helps to develop a firmly-rooted, resilient, authentic faith in our children.

Use celebration to propel your children forward!

So, let's keep our eyes open as our kids grow and develop. High-fives, words of affirmation, and making a big to-do about some things can really propel your children and your discipleship ministry of them forward. And let's not forget - it's fun to celebrate!


Read More Encouragement on the blog:

ten-building-blocks-for-helping-your-children-to-develop-a-resilient-faith

Tags: praise, church of god, family discipleship, biblical parenting, spiritual discipleship, biblical discipleship, words of affirmation, christian parenting tips, churches in lakeville, berean baptist church, churches in burnsville, churches in apple valley, christian family blog, christian parenting blog, christian parenting advice, discipling our kids, celebrating our kids, teaching our kids character, building character in our kids, pointing our kids toward success, pointing our kids in a positive direction, encouraging our children, developing our children, motivating our children, being intentional with our kids, producing followers of jesus, celebrate humility, building spiritual habits in our kids, building a firmly-rooted faith in our children, encouraging a resilient faith, encouraging an authentic faith

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