"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.
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