Start Your Day With Psalm 118:24: Embracing Each Morning as a Gift

the sun rose this morning at exactly 06:03 in our last reflection on romans we spoke about finding strength by being joyful in hope today's verse gives us the very reason for that joy the foundation it's built on it comes from psalm one eighteen verse 24 this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it that's it just one sentence but it holds enough truth to change the shape of the next twenty four hours it's a verse of two parts the first part is a declaration of fact this is the day that the lord has made it's not a wish it's not a hope it's a statement about reality

this very day with its specific light its particular challenges its unique potential was crafted it wasn't an accident it didn't just roll off some cosmic assembly line it was made by god so often we wake up with the pressure to make the day we have to make our numbers make our appointments make a good impression make it all work it feels like we're starting with a blank page and if we don't write the perfect story the day is a failure here's what this verse means if you're feeling that pressure it means the day is already a finished work it has been given to you not as a task but as a gift the potential the

grace the opportunities they are already woven into the fabric of the hours ahead your job isn't to create them from nothing your job is to discover them to receive them the day is not a test of your ability to create it is an invitation to participate in what has already been created for you the second part of the verse is our response let us rejoice and be glad in it this is so important it doesn't say let us feel happy happiness is an emotion and emotions come and go they are wonderful but they are unreliable anchors for a soul rejoicing on the other hand is a choice it's an act of the will it's a

decision we make based on the truth we just declared because god made this day we will choose to be glad in it gladness in this sense is an act of faith it's looking at the day ahead with all its unknowns and potential difficulties and saying i trust the one who made this i believe he has put good things in it for me even if i can't see them yet here's what that means if you're waking up with a sense of dread or anxiety your first step isn't to try and force a feeling of joy that rarely works your first step is to make a small choice you can choose to look for one thing to

be glad about the warmth of the coffee cup in your hands the silence before the house wakes up the simple fact of your own breath in and out rejoicing begins with gratitude it's the practice of actively looking for the evidence of god's goodness even and especially when our feelings are telling us a different story it's an act of quiet defiance against the despair that threatens to color the day gray before it has even begun it says i will not let my circumstances have the final word the final word belongs to the one who made this day this isn't about ignoring pain or difficulty not at all it's about deciding that pain and difficulty will

not be the only story of the day you were choosing to acknowledge a deeper more foundational truth that the day itself is a gift and within it there is always a reason to be glad so as you step into the hours ahead hold on to this this day is not a random collection of moments it is a deliberate creation you do not carry the burden of making it good you carry the invitation to find the good that has already been placed within it the day is a finished canvas you don't have to paint the masterpiece you just have to walk into the picture