This Is The Day

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. [Ps 118:24]

As I awake to another Monday, I do so to birds chirping outside my window. For the first time in weeks the forecast calls for sunny skies. Many people dread Mondays.

Mondays mean going back to work or school, the start of another busy week and the end of the weekend. Even as I write this many are turning off alarms clocks and hitting the snooze button for a little more sleep.

I awake with this thought. This day is a gift from God. This is a day He made. I don't know what lies in store for today. I know this day is a gift from God. I can enjoy it, use it to seek God, and to serve His purposes. On the other hand, I could squander this day with slothful living.

I fully realize that the dawning of a new day means different things for different people. This day for some people means another day of drudgery at work. The homemaker will fill her day with household chores that never seen to end no matter how many loads of laundry she does nor how often she washes the dishes. For the mother of young children this day will mean changing diapers, feeding bottles, and trying to entertain children on very little sleep.

Some will wake up today to the sad truth that they will soon be empty nesters. Their babies have grown up and graduated or soon will. This excitement is tempered by the grief of those babies soon leaving home. The memories will linger.

There are still others who awake today with a huge hole in their heart of grief over losing a husband, a wife, a child, or a sibling. The grief is crushing. Time has not healed the wound. For these today is another day to endure, to put one step in front of the other, to survive, and go through the motions.

I also think of those awaking today to chronic pain. Today is another day of suffering. The agony is constant. There are few moments of relief. For these it is hard to see this day as a gift.

For all of these people and all the rest this is the day the Lord has made. June, 1, 2015. There has never been a day like this one. On this day there will be multiple joys, deep sorrows, trials, triumphs, and everything in between. No matter the circumstances the truth of this Psalm is that this is the day the Lord has made. Our response is supposed to be to rejoice and be glad in it.

If you are suffering or watching those suffer around you on this day what is there to rejoice and be glad about? Many things. There is the chance to relate to God. This is a gift. Each day a chance to encounter the living God. To talk to Him, hear from Him, unload burdens on Him, to walk with Him, to be still before Him, to worship Him, and to serve Him. This is a day to get to know God better no mater what you are going through.

Whether you are heading off to work, turning the new chapter of retirement, giving care to those ailing, or living out your last days on planet earth; God is the reason to rejoice and be glad.

We can also rejoice and be glad because, this day for the child of God ,means we are one day closer to Heaven where every tear will be wiped away. That is the finish line we strive for.

Today is a day to rejoice and be glad because His mercies are new every day. Even today on a Monday morning.

In a few hours I will take our students to camp. This makes about 25th year to either go to youth camp as a student, sponsor, youth pastor, pastor, or a camp preacher. This is a day for students' lives to be transformed by the God of the universe.

I rejoice because today I read His word and His word sets my mind right. I rejoice because the love of my life is in the next room getting ready for work. I am glad I got to enjoy another day with her yesterday filled laughter surrounded by our boys.

I am glad Taylor is home from college. He and I have already shared a lot of one on one time. I am glad that my other three boys will be with me at camp this week. I am glad that soon I will eat breakfast. I am glad for the cool air blowing down on me from the ceiling fan and for the technology in this computer that allows me to share my thoughts and post them to minister to others. I rejoice that God allowed me to preach yesterday. I rejoice that I live in this nation where I am free to worship and to write.

Today there is ample reasons to rejoice and be glad. Brenda and I have trials today. Our lives are not trouble free. Still we can say, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."