THIS DAY

It is so easy at times to get caught up in the process of plans and thinking of the future and dreams while letting the clock tick away. To sit back with one’s head in a fog of thought and miss out on what a day truly has to offer.

Each day seems to have its own rhythm and quality. That hardly means everyday is a blessing either. Not in terms of making us feel totally happy to be alive.

We are told that following the Lord means also going through valleys and admittedly some days represent valleys in themselves. Reaching sundown can be such a wonderful time of reflection and relief or just another yawn from it being routine.

Sometimes though in the process of haste during our momentary haste it is easy to forget the precious gift of each heartbeat. Not a whole day’s worth, but each and every single one as being a sign of god’s grace.

The last few weeks have been one’s of great stress for me and my family. We are in the middle of a very demanding situation that involves the construction of a house. When we started it seemed like it would work out okay. But now, months later the luster of dreams and the joy of anticipation have eroded. We are in the desert of disillusionment where there lurks a growing doubt that the project will be finished while we still have the means to afford it. That prospect burdens upon our soul like a shadowy millstone that weighs us down to the point where it is hard to rise above the moments of deep depression.

In the midst of this looming uncertainty there are the precious times during a given day when God seems to have mercy upon our suffering and anxiety. It never purges our life of all the residue of sadness, just gives us a small sense of joy that perhaps tomorrow will bring other than more heartache.

But just as we each see life and a day differently, so our experiences vary. And for some the sunshine brings happiness, for others grief. Being strong enough to see only what God wants to touch us with in our vision is one gift not all possess.

So when a given day’s fruit seems to sour and we feel depleted of our hope, stopping to ponder the day is always a blessed oasis. To see it in perspective that it might be our last heartbeat can help to make it more a time to embrace rather than hate.

Will this make the demons flee? Will it somehow touch us with pure euphoria till we can celebrate alone without feeling a need for tears? Probably not, but it can help us remind ourselves how now day is a promise of more than time. And even in the moments when that doesn’t seem enough we can ask ourselves to step out by faith and trust God to grant us the sight to see it with his spirit’s guiding.

That doesn’t have to be an exercise of worship. It can be a source of leaning and faith that turns a day into a blessing in some special way that we never imagined even in the midst of a storm.