I’ve been pining for some warmer weather for a while. I bet you can relate. It’s been one of those winters where the cold just seems to drag on and on and on. I sort of remember what leaves look like, and I’m starting to remember that my yard has grass in it.
A couple of days ago at a diner, I overheard a patron tell her friend that last year at this time it was 83 degrees. Christi checked her Timehop and discovered that it was actually only 65 degrees. Close enough. It was warm.
Today, though, I can look out my window and see the forsythia starting to bloom (I insist on calling these plants “For-Cynthia’s”, which never gets a laugh, but I keep it going just in case). The yellow buds are coming in strong. If I look closely enough at the trees, I can see little buds that will eventually turn into leaves; the slightest bit of green is visible on the branches.
“Oh great”, I thought, “allergy season.”
That’s how long it took me to go from “I hope there is warmer weather afoot” to feeling discouraged about the allergies I haven’t even experienced yet, simply because I saw a bloom as I stood in the sunlight shining through my windows. All in all, it was about three seconds.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly our minds can move from one circumstance to another, from hope to despair, in a matter of seconds? It’s safe to say that our emotions at any given moment are directly tied to what we’re thinking about at the time–and if we’re not careful, our minds can direct us to some really unpleasant thoughts.
The verse from that old song kept running through my head, “This is the day that the LORD has made / let us rejoice and be glad in it / this is the day / this is the day that the Looooord haaaaas maaaaade”. That’s a direct quote from Scripture. The author of Psalm 118 includes it for the people to repeat regularly: Psalm 118:24- This is the day that the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Take note that he doesn’t say, “this is the WARM day” or “this is the ALLERGY FREE day”. He says, “this is the day.” No qualifier. This day, the one that you woke up to, this is the day. God made it. We should rejoice and be happy about it.
One reason (and it’s a big one) the author says that is because, in vs. 22, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. It’s a reference to our salvation, and how we attain it. Jesus was rejected, but has now become the basis for the rest of the church. The very fact that we are aware of our salvation on “this day” makes today worth being glad about!
What makes you happy today? God made today, and you woke up and got to live in his creation. That’s a pretty good reason to rejoice.