Make This Day Count

 

What a beautiful sky greeted me this day as I walked these familiar streets! Such a dramatic scene it was, what a striking image. Skies like these always take me back among memories of childhood conversations about heaven and that popular doctrine of the day, the Second Coming. I think clouds like this gave the young me the impression that the sky was opening and something big was about to go down. As I recall, I alternated between excitement and fear at such thoughts.

As I write, I have a funeral on my mind. A good person who lived a good life that did much good in the world. It will be a celebration - a celebration with tears - but a celebration nonetheless. The life that will be remembered was a life that touched countless other lives through decades of teaching, through a life committed to family, through a life given to service and hard work.

I can remember my father, upon being asked about the Second Coming, giving an interesting reply. “All I know about it is that, whenever it is, it is one day closer than it was yesterday.” He was a firm believer that instead of speculation about the future, one should make today count, and then the next day , and then the next day. If we lived each day being the person we wish to be, doing the things that should be done and living out our faith and our values, everything will take care of itself. There would be no fear, only trust and faith.

These days, the older me sees such a sky and is reminded to make this day count, for it is the one day that really does count. Not just for myself, but for others. This day is a gift from God. I will receive it with gratitude and do my best to make it count. After all, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Peace.