A Quiet Start: Embracing Each Day as a Gift

there is a choice we make every single morning sometimes before our feet even touch the floor just yesterday we spoke about finding peace in the stillness in the quiet act of letting go before the day begins today we're invited to take the next step not just to be still but to actively receive the day ahead here is the word for us today from psalm one eighteen verse 24 this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it let's sit with that for a moment it's a verse many of us have heard before maybe so many times that we don't truly hear it anymore but listen to it again as if for the first time

this is the day that the lord has made it begins with a simple declaration of fact it doesn't say this might be a good day it doesn't say this is the day you hoped for it simply says this day this specific unrepeatable twenty four hour stretch of time is a deliberate creation it was made that means your day is not an accident it wasn't just the random result of the earth finishing another rotation it was crafted it was given the texture of this morning the light coming through your window the sounds you can hear right now all of it is part of a gift handed to you this is true whether the day holds things

you were looking forward to or things you were dreading the day itself in its very existence is a work of god it is good because its maker is good that is the foundation it is the truth that holds firm regardless of our feelings or circumstances it is something to stand on then comes the second part the invitation let us rejoice and be glad in it this is so important the verse doesn't say be happy about everything that happens today happiness so often depends on our happenings on things going our way this is something different joy is deep gladness is a choice of the will the invitation is to

rejoice and be glad in it in the day itself in the gift not necessarily in the contents of the gift but in the fact that you were given it at all so here's what that means for you right now as you sit here before the world starts making its demands it means you get to decide your posture for the day ahead will you enter it with your shoulders tensed braced for whatever might come or can you enter it with open hands ready to receive it as the gift it is choosing to be glad doesn't mean ignoring reality it doesn't mean pretending that difficult things aren't difficult it means choosing to believe that even inside the difficulty the day itself is a holy thing it means looking for the grace that is woven into the fabric of these very hours

rejoicing might look like simply taking one extra deep breath being glad might be the quiet decision to notice one beautiful thing on your way to work a patch of blue sky the kindness of a stranger it is an act of gentle determined defiance against the pull of anxiety or complaint it is an act of faith you are being given this day it is a gift made just for you you do not have to earn it you do not have to deserve it your only work in this quiet moment is to accept it

so before you take the next sip of coffee before you look at your phone just whisper it to yourself this is the day the lord has made let that truth settle in your bones and then make the quiet choice i will rejoice i will be glad in it