Have a good day!" That’s a kind of greeting you
hear just about every day from someone. Occasionally I'll get "Have a
great day," or "Have a blessed day," or some other variation of
the wish that you have a day that has good stuff in it. There are those who resent
that kind of thing. "Don't tell me what kind of day to have!" Yes,
that's a bit snarky, but then people can be very snarky and really have nothing
against the people who wish them a good day or a great day or a blessed day or
any other kind of day.
There are some days that are better than others, like
days when you don't hit every red light when you're late leaving the house for
work, or you forgot you were out of milk until after you’d poured the cereal in
the bowl, the days with flat tires, burst water pipes, leaky faucets, sick
cats, and all manner of small to enormous disasters that can really mess up a
day. It's funny though, it's all in how you look at it.
This week has been a series of “Lord help me!” days
but with some truly brilliant flashes of hallelujah! Thursday was one of those
days. Back home it was a day of celebration because it was the 236th
anniversary of Cornwallis's surrender George Washington in my little home town.
It was and still is a big celebration with lots of activities both fun and
educational.
There was a special day (I won't say how many years
ago), when our family was increased by a new baby, my brother's first child. It
was on Yorktown Day, and the whole family was just overjoyed. She really was a
cute baby. It was memorable, a new baby on the day we celebrated a conclusion
to almost all the fighting to gain our independence.
Then, 17 years and a few hours later and half a world
away, another baby was born on Yorktown Day. He almost missed it, being born
only nine minutes before midnight. I had been so hoping he'd wait at least one
more day, but he was in a hurry. This was my son, and he was born in the
Philippines, miles and miles away from Yorktown. But my little town was still
very much in my mind when they finally showed me my child and I compared him to
the memory of the little girl born 17 years previously. It was interesting to
see the differences, but of course, my son was probably the best-looking baby
you ever saw.
We celebrate days the secular days and
sacred days, and customs vary on how we do it. We celebrate secular days like
July 4 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. We make it a day of picnics and pool parties,
hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelons, potato salad, fireworks, and the whole bit.
It's quite a day. I could go on and on, but I believe you get the point. It commemorates
a day when we lit a fire that took until October 19, 1781, to quench. The result
was a new nation, conceived in liberty – a goal which we are still spending our
days trying to comprehend the meaning of and the way to make it work for
everyone.
There
are some days that are better than others, like days when you don't hit every
red light when you're late leaving the house for work, or you ran out of milk
after and remit only remembered after you had poured the cereal. The days with
flat tires, first water pipes, leaky faucets, sick cats, and all manner of
small to enormous disasters that can really mess up a day. It's funny though,
it's all in how you look at it.
In the
course of our daily lives, day by day, we tried to get as much accomplished as
we possibly can, do the best job that we can, and find time for things like
meditation or prayer or yoga or walking in the park telling a kite. We can't be
rolled robots, but neither can we be total free spirits in the sense of we have
no responsibility and no commitment to anything other than ourselves and what
we want to do at any given time. God didn't create us to do that. God gave us
some things to do that we have to work into our daily lives like helping the
sick or feeding the hungry, or maybe just visiting or calling someone who's
been sick, or celebrating a birthday, or other commemorative events.
This
week will be quieter, no major birthdays, no major celebrations, not even minor
celebrations, unless God grants that the Cubs win the pennant. Still, this
coming week I need to concentrate on how I'm spending my day. I have to have
time to work, time to study, to be social with friends and time to be alone.
It's a challenge to find a band of balance in all of this. But God made the
world in balance and now we have unbalanced it. Maybe I can't stop the wobble
of the earth on its axis, but I can learn how to work with the wobble to my own
life and make sure that there is time for me to be reminded that God deserves a
chunk of my time, and that I'll it to myself to carve out that chunk of time.
Ultimately, that makes for a good or great day.
God
bless.
Linda Ryan is a co-mentor for two Education for Ministry groups, an avid reader, lover of Baroque and Renaissance music, a wannabe writer, and a homebody. She keeps the blog Jericho's Daughter. She is owned by three cats. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, North Scottsdale, AZ.
Linda Ryan is a co-mentor for two Education for Ministry groups, an avid reader, lover of Baroque and Renaissance music, a wannabe writer, and a homebody. She keeps the blog Jericho's Daughter. She is owned by three cats. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, North Scottsdale, AZ.
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