Everyday is a celebration! Seriously, every day!

In an earlier blog I wrote about October being Clergy Appreciation Month, but did you know that it is also: Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, American Pharmacist Month, Apple Jack Month, Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Computer Learning Month, Cookie Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Eat Country Ham Month, International Drum Month, and Lupus Awareness Month. It is also: National Diabetes Month, National Pizza Month, National Vegetarian Month, National Popcorn Popping Month, Sarcastic Month, and Seafood Month. (I see some conflicts in these designations!)

Each week of the month also has its special celebration. The 1st week of the month was "Get Organized Week". This one flew right by me, but I plan on working on it as soon as I can find my calendar. It was also "Customer Service Week" - a lot of other people I know let this one slide right by them. The 2nd week of the month we saw celebrations of "Fire Prevention Week" and "Pet Peeve Week". Seems to me these are more like year-round designated activities. Finally, during the 3rd week we saw "Pastoral Care Week". I've commented on this in that previous blog, so won't rehash this.

As we go on, I found out that almost every day of the month has some special designation attached to it. Everything from "Name Your Car Day" on the 2nd, to "Bald and Free Day" on the 7th, to "Wear Something Gaudy Day" and "Babbling Day". There is also "National Nut Day", "National Mincemeat Day" and "Increase Your Psychic Powers Day", but I bet you saw that one coming. And how could I forget "Virus Appreciation Day"?

I am amazed by the number of inconsequential things people find to celebrate! How do you celebrate "Virus Appreciation Day" or "Sarcastic Month"? It's hard enough for me to remember to buy and mail birthday cards for family members in a timely manner, how in the world could I have daily celebrations for all of these other things that are recognized and set aside? Maybe I should have taken advantage of "Get Organized Week" and organized myself so I could find more ways to celebrate the inanities of life. As I think about all these things I find that I do have to simply laugh - or I'll start crying with the thought of having more to "celebrate" than is possibly human!

In the midst of all this thinking there is a still small voice in my head that whispers - "Be still" and reminds me to stay focused on what I truly have to be grateful for and to celebrate. I choose to celebrate the many gifts God has given me. I have the ability to hear my children's voices and my husbands snores; the gift of touching my cats soft warm fur or holding a pen to write a letter; and the ability to see the faces of my friends and loved ones. I celebrate the comfy blanket wrapped around my legs as I sit on my couch in my comfortable livingroom under a solid roof with a cup of hot tea by my side and breakfast waiting for me on the kitchen counter. Today I celebrate all that God has given me and all He has taken away and I pray that I can do the same tomorrow and the day after and the day after that.

There is no need for me to do more, to add more, to this day than what is already present.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." ~ Genesis 2:2-3

This is the day ...

Have you ever noticed that every day you seem to encounter someone that has something to say about the weather? Maybe your spouse said to you this morning, "Looks like it's gonna be cold today." Or maybe a co-worker said, "Can you believe how hot it is out there?" Or how about your comment to the grocery store checkout clerk, "I am so tired of all this rain!"

I know that for most of us this is all idle chit-chat, designed to make conversation and connect us with the people and the world around us. But underlying the comments seems to be a hidden agenda. Hidden even from our own minds and hearts. There oftentimes seems to be a sense of discontent with the our present state of being, as if we awakened in the morning and something in our world wasn't ... quite ... right. How difficult we make things out to be when we forget to simply say thank you for THIS day!

We are reminded in scripture that God created the heavens and the earth , night and day, and said, "It is good." We are also reminded in scripture to offer up our prayers and praises unceasingly and in all circumstances. And we are reminded in scripture that God's love and mercies for us are unfailing and new every morning.

So, let's all think about each of our days and remember to thank God for this day which He has made. Rain, sun, cold, warmth - THIS is the day that the Lord has made and I will be glad in it!


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

Stinking Thinking

Tomorrow is trash pick-up day at our house and tonight is the night we spend some time cleaning out the fridge and gathering the scattered wastebaskets from around the house. Sometimes we have old smelly things that have been shoved into the back of a drawer or behind another container. We may have forgotten about that leftover and now it has turned into a smelly, moldy, unrecognizable mess.

Sometimes this also happens to our thoughts and affects our behavior towards ourselves and others. Have you ever found yourself spiraling into negative thoughts about yourself and/or others? Your day started all wrong - your alarm didn't go off at the right time, you were late getting out the door so you got stuck in traffic and were even later to your appointment. Then, while standing in line that woman in front of you kept asking a lot of questions, couldn't she just sit down and figure out the paperwork for herself? Finally you realize that she can't read and you are upset with yourself for acting like a fool so you mentally berate yourself until you are no longer upset with her, but are now upset with yourself. And the spiral of negative thinking has begun.

How do we stop this spiral of negative thinking? Oftentimes we don't even realize how our judgmental thinking is affecting our concept of God and of ourselves. God has given us the strength to live and grow in our relationship with him and has given us the strength to become more than what we are so we may become all of which we have been created to be. I have found that when I remember that we - this includes me! - are created in the image of God, I am able to accept my limitations and weaknesses so that God's strength can overcome my judgmental attitudes. I think this quote by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh says it quite well - "You are carrying a masterpiece hidden within you, but you are standing in the way. Just move aside, then the masterpiece will be revealed. Everyone is a masterpiece, because God never gives birth to anything less than that. Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it. God himself has created you; you cannot be improved."

Oops ~ looks like it's time to remove the trash. Don't let trashy thinking litter your mind and ruin your life!

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." ~ Genesis 1:27