July 9, 2017
Summer Sunday-Sunshine for the Soul
How Was Your Day?
The quality of our today will not be determined by the outcome of our circumstances, but by the income of His Love and His Grace into our lives…May we Sit for Awhile
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2
I was thinking the other day about where I have learned the most life lessons. I have been a lot of places, met many people in my sixty-two years. However, I can honestly say that when I watch our six grandchildren dive into their new day, chase every moment…every butterfly and every lizard…I learn valuable life-lessons from just sitting and watching them.
I sat and watched them this past July 4th week-end, and I could vaguely remember days when I chased the same things they were running after. To them, every day is grand and wonderful, not because of circumstances, but because of the love poured into their lives, and their enthusiasm, curiosity, and the child-like sense of wonder and awe they pour into their day.
How Was Your Day?
There is a universal question that just pops up in conversation within our culture. We all have been asked the question… I think that every mom asks her children the question as they climb into the car for the ride home after school, as they wrestle the back pack and the lunch kit, and the coat into the car, before the door closes. Curious moms ask the question, “How was your day?” They ask with great expectation of a detailed answer, because they are desperate to know.
When I ask my grands that question, they look at me with blank stares…NOW, I think that I know why. To my grands and to most children, every day is a good day. They have the ability to see the good in every day, even the children living in the most challenging of circumstances, smile at an ounce of goodness. And I remember days like that as a child…but, then something changed. I am not sure where I learned this new perspective, but at some point in my life, I began to measure the quality of my day through an ‘outcome based filter’.
Did I get in trouble at school for talking? Did I perform well on a test or exam? Did I get the part in the play, or land on the A-team? Did the ‘right’ people talk to me at school, or at least acknowledge my existence…oh yes, the ‘outcome based filter’…measuring my successes, my accomplishments, my performances…and how people responded to me, as I sought to answer the question…”How was your day?” Hmmmmmmm…Does this sound familiar to you too?
Years later as a wife and a mother I still found myself measuring the quality of my day based on the behavior of my children. How many melt-downs did they have in the grocery store? How many hours did my precious ones spend in time-out? How many times was I tempted to put my husband in time-out, because he would not respond to my simple question as he rushed through the door to take his place at the dinner table, seeming to ignore my question, “How was your day?” Honestly, I found myself using the same filter in my grown-up world, looking at the ‘outcome’ of my circumstances to determine the quality and worth of the gift of my day. Perhaps you can identify…
I know that I missed some really amazing blessings living life from this perspective. As we live life this summer, how will we evaluate our days as we answer that universal question… “How was your day”…which carries over to “How was your summer?” I pray that we remember…
THE TRUTH…
“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
I am so thankful that I do not know when I wake up in the morning exactly how much grace I will need for the day…Knowing myself as well as I do, I would jump into my day, reach for God’s Grace Jar, and begin to fret as I tried to gather enough to cover my day…and, maybe throw in a little extra just in case! I am so thankful that is not the way Grace works!
In the midst of LIFE, somehow in God’s faithfulness, He took His time to teach me and to show me…that His Grace is for me and it for you, and it is a Gift from Him that only He can give and He gives us a new filter, a new perspective to evaluate the gift of our todays…
The quality of my today will not be determined by the outcome of my circumstances…but by the income of His love and His Grace into my life, which empowers me to respond to my circumstances and to the people in my life, reflecting the Love and Grace of our Loving Father. Our faithful God does not ignore our hard circumstances, rather He leads us through them as we follow His Grace-filled steps…as we follow Him.
This summer, as we Sit for Awhile in His Presence, as we take time to pray, to hear Him speak through our reading of His Word, through His whispers into our hearts like the warmth of the summer sun shining on our bodies, I pray that His Sunshine makes its way into our weary souls. His Grace is a healing salve and we can exuberantly, honestly, joyfully answer the question with gratitude in our hearts…Yes, it was a good day, perhaps a hard day…but a good day…even in the midst of challenging and difficult circumstances. I have learned that in my most difficult and pain-filled moments…God’s Grace has made the day good, because of His Loving Presence.
I pray that your summer is filled with grand moments of chasing lizards and butterflies…moments of silence and stillness…moments spent with loved ones, young and old…moments of God’s Amazing Grace. And, like our six beautiful grands, that we would look to see the good in our today.
And I pray that you and your loved ones walk and run in God’s Love and Grace, His Sunshine for your Soul, today and every day!
Grace and Blessings,
