How to Celebrate Ordinary Wins as a Family
In a culture that celebrates grand accomplishments and viral moments, it’s all too easy to overlook the humble victories of our everyday experiences. But the common wins (a child finishing a challenging book, a teen choosing kindness, a parent toughing out a hard day with patience) are all worth noticing. It is a string of these little moments that build character, foster deep relationships, and remind us that God is in present in our everyday life. Here’s how to identify and celebrate everyday wins as a family.
1. Redefine Success Together
Spend time as a family discussing what is essential. Focus not just on how kids perform (grades, awards, etc) but also on effort, growth, and faithfulness. Emphasize things like grit, compassion, integrity, and love.
Application Prompt: While eating at the table together, ask each family member to tell you one “win” from their week, even a small one. Affirm each response.
2. Create Rhythms of Simple Celebration
Make celebrating small wins a way of life by creating traditions that make acknowledging accomplishments normal and joyful. These could be unique desserts, a game night, or writing “wins” on pieces of paper and putting them in a “victory jar.”
Application Prompt: Start a “Victory Jar” and suggest that family members drop in notes about ordinary wins during the week. Read them together on Sundays at dinner.
3. Inspire One Another with Words
Words have power. Speak encouragement (and even Scripture) over each other when sharing wins, great and small. Pray that your home becomes a place of free-flowing affirmation.
Application Prompt: Select a Bible verse, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (“Encourage one another and build each other up…”), and promise to speak it aloud whenever someone in the family accomplishes a large or small milestone.
4. Make Gratitude Your Habit
It’s easier to spot the mundane victories when we are searching for them regularly. Gratitude redirects our attention away from what’s missing and toward what God is actively doing in our day-to-day lives.
Application Prompt: Start a family gratitude journal. Every week, have each person write at least one thing they are grateful for, small personal victories included.
5. Reflect God’s Joy in the Mundane
The Bible teaches us that God delights in faithfulness in the small things. Teach your family to see God’s pleasure not only in the big wins but also in everyday victories and faithful acts of obedience.
Application Prompt: Read Matthew 25:21 together and discuss the meaning of being “faithful with a few things.”
Helpful Resources
Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley
Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World by Kristen Welch
The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Conclusion
Celebrating ordinary wins as a family isn’t about more pressure or perfection. It’s about slowing down enough to notice what God is doing daily. This celebratory mindset cultivates a culture of encouragement, gratitude, and grace that chisels and shapes the hearts of families for life.