Better is one day in Your house

One of the things I now look forward to are the quiet times in my life. Matt Rexroad's encouragement to be more exiting not withstanding, I have learned to appreciate the days that once passed by without much thought given to them. When people asked me how my Thanksgiving was, I answered that it was nice and boring, just the way I like it. Before you get the idea that I have always been as dull as butter knife, I can assure that I was raised in a household that was filled with enough drama, and cliff hanging excitement to make a good episode of the 80's TV show Dallas.

As for my adult life, consistency has been allusive. I have experienced periods of wealth, poverty, wealth again, poverty again, and now I am somewhere comfortably in between. I have experienced days of great joy and great sorrow. I have faced days of uncertainty where I had no idea what was coming around the next corner. I would guess that your life has taken some of the same turns as mine. I did have one precious gift that helped me make it through these tough times, God's presence in my life. Even when I was far from Him, He was never far from me.

This weekend will be a rainy one and the family and I will spend the today decorating the Christmas tree and building a fire in the fireplace. Not a red letter day to many people, but for me, I will stop and thank the Lord for it.

Psalm 118:24 tells us 'This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

When an exceptionally good day comes our way, we rejoice, but that is not what we are called to do. We should rejoice in every day, the good ones, the bad ones, and those that would otherwise slip past as 'ordinary' days. It can be easy to miss, but there are no ordinary days. Each one is what we make of it. A day spent with those we love, and as a Christian, a day where I concentrate on God's love and his grace is a day well spent.

We have all lost loved ones in our lives. I know that I would give almost anything to have one more 'ordinary' day with them again. The holiday season brings the feeling of that loss back to the surface. We cannot turn back the clock, we cannot go back and tell those we loved and lost how much we miss them, but there is something we can do. We can rejoice in this day and tell those people in our lives how much we love them. We can rejoice in this day God has made.

If we can rejoice in today and give thanks to the Lord for it, we draw closer to Him, and there is no better place to be.

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts than thousands elsewhere.