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!