Recently, I was visiting with an elderly widow from our church, and she was sharing with me some of her favorite memories that she had of her husband. The couple had been quite blessed as they had traveled all over the country and also had been to several other countries.
She talked about memorable birthday celebrations, unforgettable Christmas gatherings, and celebrating the various life accomplishments of all of her family members. Her mind wandered from one monumental occasion to another.
At one point in our conversation, I remarked about how her and her husband had experienced so many great vacations and major life events and that I really resonated with those experiences. My wife and I have had a great many of our own experiences, and I often find myself relaying similar stories of our vacations and celebrations to others.
In all of her 90-plus years of wisdom, this particular woman turned to me with a smile on her face and said, “Yeah, but there were a lot of other great memories that happened on the ordinary days, too.”
Chances are, your house has pictures on the wall, atop a mantle, or on shelves somewhere. Chances also are that some of these pictures feature you and/or members of your family on vacation somewhere. My family is getting ready to go to Disney World in a few weeks. We’ve been talking about this trip and making plans for this trip now for over a year. No doubt we’ll be talking about this trip for years to come, and our house will be filled with pictures from this trip. The memories that we’ll make on our trip probably will last until we are in our 90s.
That trip to Disney World, however, will be only one of the 52 weeks in our year. We give so much attention and intention to the “big days” in our lives, it would be interesting if we gave the same attention and intention to all the others. Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” This day. Every day. Not just the “big days.” Not just wedding days, promotion days, vacation days and holidays, but the days and months before and the weeks and years after.
I am convinced that we experience life more fully when we treat each day as if it is a blessing from God. I am convinced that our lives feel fuller when we give each day the same attention and care that we give those special days.
Christians often treat worship on Sundays in a similar way. As if the Sunday morning assembly represents a week’s worth of worship crammed into an hour or two. That time is to be an overflow of the experience of God from the rest of the week. Each and every day is a special blessing from God. While some days may be a little more memorable than others, in the days and weeks surrounding those special days, we are making memories and slowly forming ourselves into the people that everyone knows us to be.
Maybe today doesn’t seem “special.” Maybe today is an ordinary day, but thank God for ordinary days! Most of life is pretty ordinary. Certainly there are times to celebrate and enjoy vacations or other special days, but these days are always going to be significantly fewer than the other days. Don’t allow yourself to miss the beauty and wonder that can be found in every ordinary day.
