The Best Day

 

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 288: Today, I am grateful we can proclaim it the best day in the year. 

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote makes me think of my dear friend Jim Sedgwick. Jim was one of two work coordinators at Peoria Alternative High School. Jim was a hoot. He worked at Manual High School in Peoria before he came to PAHS. 

The other half of the work coordinators team was my very special Cleve. They were quite a pair. Polar opposites in so many ways, but Jim and Cleve were both committed to helping "the least of these" who landed at PAHS be successful at work and school. 

Jim was one of the rare White Sox fans in the Peoria area. Back home people were Cubs or White Sox. In Central Illinois, it is either the Cubs or the Cardinals. Jim was an anomaly in so many ways. 

Jim liked rules and order. If you moved a pen on his desk, he would notice.  Our alternative high school students struggled with authority and rules. For Cleve, loving the students was a reflex like breathing. For Jim, it was intentional, and that made it special and beautiful. Both men loved Jesus and it translated into how they spent their days. 

If you asked Jim how he was doing, his typical reply was, "Every day is a holiday and every meals a feast." He worked at his attitude and it showed. He was quick to smile and laugh. He was passionate about the things he loved and the work he did. He loved singing in the church choir. He loved people and parties. He has been gone 22 years, but I can still here his voice, with a bit of a Chicago accent that never really left him. 

"Every day is a holiday and every meals a feast!" Make the most of this day. Proclaim it a good day, and it will be. 

"The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad." -Psalm 118:24

Today, I am grateful we can proclaim it the best day in the year. 

A Walk

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 287: Today, I am grateful we can take a walk. 

"Few people know how to take a walk.  The qualities are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good silence, and nothing too much." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Love-of-my-Life and I took a lovely walk this weekend. It was a perfect afternoon for simple pleasure. It was too nice to stay inside. The leaves are turning. The animals are playful. It is always good for the soul. 

Daisy Mae's arch nemesis is the squirrel. They are too quick for her to catch(thank goodness). The squirrels in our back yard typically taunt her. I think they enjoy that part of the game way more than Daisy Mae. On our walk, a neighborhood squirrel in another yard took to the tree when we walked by, but did not flee. We watched the squirrel and the squirrel watched us. Strangers yet familiar with the roles in nature's design. 

We saw nature's final wave of summer's glory losing its luster. Fall pumpkins and decor appear. Some take to their porches, enjoying the mild temperatures and sunny skies. 

"There is such value in taking to nature. It is good for the soul. 

"You crown the year with your bounty,
    and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
    and the valleys are mantled with grain;
    they shout for joy and sing." -Psalm 65:11-13 

Today, I am grateful we can take a walk. 

Access to the King

 

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 286: Today, I am grateful for access to the King. 

I adore this quote:

"The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access." -Tim Keller

I love everything about the implications of this quote. I find myself often "crying out" in prayer on the night shift. 

If I wake up and cannot go back to sleep, it always seems perfectly natural to talk to the Father. There is something about the stillness of the night. It soothes my soul and eases any worries. 

I love that the scriptures tell us that He delights in the moments we seek His face. He wants to be a part of all of our days from sunrise to sunset. 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." -Matthew 7:7-8

He longs for the invitation. 

Today, I am grateful for access to the King. 

Rocking Chairs

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 285: Today, I am grateful for rocking chairs. 

I love a good rocking chair. We have always kept a pair, since the early days of our marriage. We had Rubbermaid in white (think "Little Tikes" for many years. Then we added some wicker furniture with two rockers. 

We have a new outdoor set for the backyard. Randy and Daisy Mae needed a couch. I wanted rockers. Rocking is soul soothing. 

When the boys were babies and needed to be nursed or consoled, the glider rocker was where I would rock them until they fell back to sleep. Sometimes the comforting motion would lull us both to sleep. 

"Anxiety is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn't get you very far." -Jodi Picoult

The soothing rhythm found in rocking helps us to sort through the good and the bad in life. A person can think, rest, and restore in a rocking chair.  

One of the first verses I memorized on my own was this: "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" - Matthew 25:27

Do not fret. Just rock and rest. 

Today, I am grateful for rocking chairs. 

It Is Well With My Soul

 

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 284: Today, I am grateful for the old hymn, "It is well with my soul." 

It has always been one of my favorite hymns. It is a song about finding peace when everything goes wrong. 

The story is powerful. Horatio Spafford's good friend, D.L. Moody was to be preaching in England. Spafford had sent his wife and family ahead of him, while he finished some business at home. He would follow them on another ship.

His four daughters were lost at sea when the steamer ship, the Ville du Havre, sank.  It was hit by another ship. The girls were all lost, as the ship sank in twelve minutes. 

His wife, Anna, was found unconscious, floating on debris. She sent him this brief telegram from England, "Saved alone." Alone. They were shattered and an ocean apart. 

On the crossing to reunite with Anna, Spafford was taken to the spot where the Ville du Havre went down by the Captain. It was a powerful moment. The lyrics  for this beloved hymn were seeded in that moment. 

What many do not know is that Horatio and Anna had already lost their first son, Horatio Jr., to scarlet fever. They had already survived the Great Chicago Fire, where they did their best to help others less fortunate through the trials after the fire took many homes, jobs, and lives. They were not strangers to loss. The hymn articulates deep pain, but it comes out on the other side victorious. They had three more children - two who survived into adulthood. 

Every life has seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow. Sometimes, they are mixed. Today is my sister, April's 57th birthday. She has spent her last thirty birthdays in Heaven. Time flies. Our first Lindgren niece arrived a little early... and four days after April's birthday that same year. Ciara's birth was a gift to us all. New life brings healing and new joy. 

In the storms and in the valleys, we can still trust The One who holds the universe in place by His perfect design. As we move through the chapters in this life, we can look back and see that our God was always present. He never abandons his children. His purpose will not be thwarted by storm, by circumstance, or by our attempts to take the steering wheel. That is good news!  

"Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." -Proverbs 19:20-21

It is well... it is well...  with my soul. 

Today, I am grateful for the old hymn, "It is well with my soul." 

Fragrance of the Crushed

 

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 283: Today, I am grateful for the beautiful fragrance of the crushed. 

There are flowers and herbs that when crushed release a beautiful fragrance from their oils. It strikes me as something worth pondering. 

The crushing is part where the change begins. It is where the oil pours out. It is where it changes into something beautifully fragrant.

What was once beautiful to behold on the vine or the stem becomes truly special when its life appears to be over. It is not over. It is transforming. 

"Do the hard things, trusting God when it hurts, humbling yourself... it is the perfume you pour on Jesus' feet." -Unknown

The times we are "broken and poured out," we might be in the process of becoming something new. What seems hard... and is hard... in the moment, is part of the transformation. When we put our trust in Jesus in those painful moments, it is like pouring perfume on his feet. 

"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." -Ephesians 5:2

Beautifully broken. 

Today, I am grateful for the beautiful fragrance of the crushed. 

Strength of Spirit

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 282: Today, I am grateful for strength of spirit.

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." 

True strength is not as simple as bench pressing a certain amount of weight. Physical strength plus strength of will collide at the point of falling to our knees and saying, |"Not they will but Thine be done." 

I cannot help but think of Jesus. 

Knowing two of his best friends were about to betray him, Jesus washed his feet. 

Knowing he was the last chance for two criminals, he used some of his last breaths to offer help and salvation. 

Knowing church leaders wanted him dead, he continued his work to heal the sick, feed the poor, and meet people at the point of their need. 

Knowing the likely answer was "No,"  he knelt before the Father in the garden known as Gethsemane and said, "Not thy will by thine be done." 

It is all quite humbling. Tonight I walked to the car singing, "Let me tell you 'bout my Jesus." When I turned the car on, that was the very song on the radio. The "coincidence" made me smile. 

"For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” -John 6:40

The Father's will... Jesus's will... all who live walking in and by His Spirit... will be saved. 

Today, I am grateful for strength of spirit.