It’s not a national holiday. It’s not one of my children’s birthdays, nor is it my birthday. (although it is somebody’s birthday out there) It’s not the anniversary of some major historical event. (like D-day or Pearl Harbor Day) No, today is just an ordinary day – that is if you accept the premise that there can be ordinary days. I think everyday is extraordinary in its own right – it’s my perception of a day as ordinary that prevents me from seeing and experiencing all the unique potential the day holds. I feel as if my life is made up of ordinary days and yet . . .

did you know that this so called ordinary day is actually “National New Friends Day”? How cool is that? Friends are one of life’s best gifts. The possibility of meeting and making a new friend adds excitement to my supposedly ordinary day. I know where I started this day, but I don’t yet know where I will end up because I don’t know what the day holds in store for me or where it will take me. Such is the mystery of the ordinary days which make up our lives.

The weather where I live is often an apt metaphor for an ordinary day. Rarely is one all sun or all rain. Most days have some of both, a stormy morning and afternoon can give way to a clear evening with a beautiful sunset or vice versa. The promise of a perfect day made by a morning filled with warm sunshine can give way in an instant to thunder and lightning bringing torrents of rain. Drastic temperature changes are also common here in the span of a day.

So too, are my ordinary days – into each enters some good news, some bad news, some unexpected joy and some unwelcome sadness. Ordinary days are full of all the things that make up a life – success and failure, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, hope and discouragement, belonging and loneliness, kind words and cruel words, hard work and rest, faith and doubt – all these and more coexist simultaneously together in the space of one ordinary day. Of course not in equal amounts on any given day. One day may have much more rain than sun, every day will have its challenges and its rewards.

so now, I am back to my original question – what is so special about today? Well, aside from the fun fact that it is Mother Theresa Day in Albania, I think Psalm 118:24 answers this question best –

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Today is special because God made it, ordained it, and is present in it. And there’s more. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says this –

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Today is a day of salvation! That’s pretty special. Hebrews 3:15 tells me,

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” I am also told,

“. . . choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Today is a day of choice, what or whom will I pursue? Every choice I make today matters. Today is special because it is a gift of time and opportunity from God to me.

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

“Teach me to number my days aright, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

every day is special in some way, every day is a gift from God, every day is filled with gifts from God, if I would but open my eyes to see them and my heart to receive them –

today is special in some way, (actually in many ways) today is a gift from God, today is filled with gifts from God, if I would but open my eyes to see them and my heart to receive them – yes, today is a very special day.

“All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16)

sincerely, Grace Day