Psalm 118:24This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. …New American Standard Bible

This morning on the way to work as the sun was rising in the east, I turned off the radio to watch the morning unfold around me. The sun was partially hiding in the clouds. Other clouds stretched out from one side of the “canvas” to the other. The clouds were different shades of blue gray with pink edges that finally turned white at the very top of the clouds. It was a beautiful sight that I have no words that are perfect enough to describe it.

It is not unusual that I turn off the radio on my 55 miles drive to and from work. Today was no different. I then normally spend the time observing the surroundings….starting with the traffic in front of me.  And I generally spend time talking to God.

This morning, the passage from Psalm 118:24 entered my head: This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

That passage fills my thoughts a number of times so for me to think of it this morning is not anything new or even shocking. However, this morning, my thinking said that “this is THE day” is not really a good statement.   “The” implies singular, one of a kind: “the ball”; “the house”; “the dog”….you get my drift. Yes, this day is “the” day that we are living in; however, it is only one of many, many days that we have lived in and one of that many  more days that we will live.   So the statement that “this is THE day” implied that there was only one day and this is it.

I can accept that since this is the day we are living in, “the” is a good statement. It puts us in the very present time. There is no past, there is no future. There is only the right now.  And right now is very good and we should praise God who has made our very right now and be grateful for all of the blessings we have in the very right now.

However, since we don’t live only in the very present, the very right now, we should also rejoice in all of our past and in our promised future. Yes, the past has many painful and hurtful memories, but there are blessings in those “dark” days.  And, yes, the future is not promised to us. This may be our last day on this earth. But the promise of the future should fill us with hope.  We are indeed blessed in so many ways.

So maybe instead of referring to this day as “the” day, maybe we should instead be thinking: “This is another wonderful, beautiful, spectacular, fantastic, glorious, blessed day that the Lord hath made and we would rejoice and revel in it with thanksgiving and gratitude that we are so loved”.   Indeed. Every day is the day. This is the day!

Dogs are great.   They truly love you unconditionally and who else is as always happy to see you no matter what.    I had this Heinz 57 mix who was the typical dog always wanting to be with us and loving us conditionally.  He was different from all of the other dogs that I have had though.  He literally would smile when he saw us….a big toothy smile.    The first time he smiled at me, I thought that he was showing his teeth because of displeasure or that he felt threatened.   I asked him what was wrong.   He continued to smile and his tailed wagged even more out of control than what it had before.    It was then that I realized that he was actually smiling at me, just like a human.    It was an enduring quality that I will never forget even after all of the years he has been gone.   

A few days ago, a construction contracting business in Texas posted on LinkedIn about a weekly Bible Study that they conduct at the beginning of the day.     Over 3,700 comments have been made since the last time I looked with over  19,000 people liking the post.   A couple of negative comments stated it was waste of company time/resources and they should study something useful, like physics.   What those commenters failed to realize is that in the mind of the company, it is not about business first but it is about their priority to run a different type of business where God is at the center of their business.    And it appears they have been successful in their model.

 

What I found interesting is that in a country where God now takes a back seat and we much be politically correct in everything we do and say, the majority of the comments were positive.    A good number even stated that they wanted to work in such a place.   Some comments stated that it would be a positive way to start the day.  

 

As an HR professional, there is nothing wrong with what doing a weekly Bible study at the beginning of the day.    They just need to be aware that they would need to provide equal opportunity to other religions should employees of a different faith make the same request.     However, along with some of the people commenting, I also would like to work for such a company.   Where they fully admit that God is at the center of their company, they would treat their employees and their customers fairly.