"Today"

"This is the day the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it," Psalm 118:24.

This is the first Bible verse we taught our children. Just about every morning we say it together because it reminds us of some important things about this day we call today.

"This is the day." Yesterday is gone. For good or bad, what happened yesterday is now part of the past. Tomorrow may or may not be. I must be careful not to be so focused on what is to come that I miss what is come. Will I live in this day?

"The Lord has made." Today is a gift from God. No matter what will or will not happen today, this day holds within it something that God wants me to see, hear or know from him. Even the worst of today need not be a waste when we see it in the hands of the one who promises to take all things and make them good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Ro. 8:28). Will I approach this day as a gift?

"Let us." It does not say, "Let me." This idea of embracing today as a gift from God is not something we are to do alone, but something we as Followers of Christ are to do together. In the context of real Christian community we find accountability, encouragement, challenge and support to make a choice to live this day as a gift from God. If we are struggling, then the question we are asked to confront is, are we going it alone or are we walking, intentionally and openly with other Followers of Christ?

"Rejoice and be glad." This is not a suggestion, but a command. Our culture lies to us and says we cannot do what we do not feel. The Bible reveals the truth our culture does not what us to hear. The truth is sometimes the only way to feel anything is to first act. Action invites feeling. If I will choose to rejoice, I can expect to then be glad. Will I make a choice to rejoice whether I feel like it or not?

"In it." In what? Today. If today presents you the mundane or the insane, celebration or tribulation...the "it" of today is not the determining factor of the value of your today. Rather the one who gave you this day is the one in whom you find value regardless of what "it" this day is made. The one whose love is the same yesterday, today and forever, is the one from whom we find a gift of love every day for which we have reason to rejoice and be glad.

Perhaps you say, "Wow! Chad, must be having a good day to write such words." The truth is this is my annual Random Thoughts dedicated to those who struggle with seasonal depression. I have once again entered into this time of seasonal blues. I will continue to watch my eating, exercise daily and take some vitamin supplements. However, with all that I must put my focus where this Psalm commands. My focus once again this year, during this time, with this struggle, must be on one...HIM...the one who gave me this day and gave gave me others with whom to walk through this day. And because He gave me this day it means there is a gift to unwrap which means I have reason to rejoice and be glad in it.