This is a question that is often asked but seldom answered, at least honestly, that is unless you're answering yourself. When someone asks this question we often default to a simple reply like, "Just fine. You?" We rarely tell anyone how are day really went. Unless we're sitting in the silence with the soft glow of our computer screen in the darkness, alone, finally, with Facebook.
Every day someone is posting a status about how their day went, whether they were asked or not. And it seems like we are more likely to share the result of our day if we consider it to be a bad day. We use words like; Terrible. Horrible. Want to just crawl in a hole. Will this day ever end? Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'm not sure if people are hunting for sympathy, conversation or just using social media like it was group counseling. Either way I think we need some perspective on how to judge a day.
I think most people work something like this. Today may be a bad day because something bad happened - a single event like a flat tire - or because there were multiple small bad things that happened that give you that overall feeling. But it could also be a bad day because nothing good happened. You didn't win the Publisher's Clearing House big prize, for instance. You got your hopes up because you were one of the top finalists but they didn't pick your name. Darn. Bad day.
It's probably safe to say that the judgement of our day is highly varied and depends not so much on what happens (or doesn't happen) but on how we feel about it.
I struggle with this too. Everything could be going great for me. Good morning, lots of stuff accomplished, feeling good about myself and ministry and family and then BOOM! Flat tire. Critical email. Someone in my church puts something unbecoming of a follower of Christ on their status and all the sudden my good mood goes on a cruise.
I don't know why we feel the need to judge each day based on events, circumstances or feelings. Shouldn't there be an objective basis on which to judge our days? Wouldn't that be so much easier? Well, maybe, but even then it's different for each person. Let's consider what might be on the list.
Obviously, if someone close to you dies it's a bad day. Right? But what if they were suffering? Or if they were a Christian and Heaven was waiting for them? Then that death might be a cause for celebration instead of tears.
Someone might want to put the stock market crashing as an objective determinant of a bad day. But someone is always making money on the stock market. Up or down somebody is getting rich, it's been designed that way. So bad day for one is still a good day for another.
What if we just said, regardless of what happens today, it's still a good day because I'm alive. Even that is difficult for me because if I die I believe I'll see Jesus and that will be the best thing ever! So being alive is not even a good measure by which to judge my day.
The writer of Psalm 118 simply said, "This is the day the Lord has made (or worked), let us be glad and rejoice..."
Wouldn't it be wonderful to judge your day in this way? This is the day that God ordained and knew about before the foundations of the earth were laid. Before you took your first breath of air, whether in a hospital in the US or a hovel in a third world country the Lord knew your life before it was created. The events of our day are not good judges - we aren't even good judges of the events themselves! So why not say, "Today is another day of life that God has given, therefore He must have a purpose for it that I may not even see. So, until He calls me to heaven I will rejoice in each day and be glad that He has called me out of darkness and into His wonderful light - regardless of the events of my day - it's a good day."
I hope that today, whatever day it is, is a good day for you.
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