Victory!

An signature feature of the house, the victory wall, is a physical display of the ways we celebrate victory in the day to day and remember our victory in Christ

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."-1 Corinthians 15:57

When I returned back to the house after a weekend at home I spent miserably sick, the newly installed Victory Wall immediately caught my eye. That isn’t surprising, considering it is literally our entire kitchen wall. I thoughtfully gazed at it for a couple seconds, and then asked, “What are we, in preschool?”

My critical attitude changed quickly. Each night (usually when I am procrastinating at the kitchen table from doing my work) I check to see if anything new has been added. It is exhilarating to see our victories grow with each passing day. By the end of the semester, our wall will be entirely covered with colorful scraps of paper in a variety of shapes and sizes. The victory wall is a blessing to our house. Let's face it, we are all busy and there are 13 of us in the house. We do not have time to constantly give each other life updates. But by checking the victory wall, I learn a little bit more about each of the women in the house and I keep up to date with what incredible things they are all achieving. Someone got an A on an important exam, someone else will be studying in Cuba next semester, someone received God's mercy in the confessional after struggling with a certain sin, and another housemate successfully ran a scavenger hunt for the Newman freshmen. At the same time, the Victory Wall isn’t about self-glorification or one-upping each other’s accomplishments. It’s about deepening our community by sharing our lows and our highs. The victory wall is about choosing to claim joy! We as a community want to support each other, and one way we can do that is by recognizing each other’s accomplishments.

The victories we put up are not always conventionally impressive. No, our Victory Board is about taking the time to be thankful for what you have achieved and recognizing your worth. A typical Penn view of success is about how high your GPA is, what big-name internship you landed for the summer, and how many board positions you hold for your extra-curriculars. But victories aren’t just what looks best on your resume. Many of the victories on our wall are seemingly small things, like taking care of yourself and getting 8 hours of sleep, or taking time away from the typical grind of Penn to play board games with friends or finding time to just be still. A victory is taking the time to invest relationships through fruitful conversations, and it’s persevering through tough times. Victory is growing in your relationship with Christ.

All the victories we take pride in and place upon are wall are equal despite their apparent significant because, as St. Theresa of Calcutta asserted, “It is not what we do, but how much love we put into it.”