Today - a really special day

Is there one day in the year that you think is most special? A day you look forward to all year long? Maybe it's your birthday, or Christmas, or the last day of school. Or maybe even the first day of school.

I used to have one day that was so absolutely special that I could hardly wait until it rolled around. Then it did. And yes, it was always the greatest day of the year! It was filled to the top with all the greatness and fun I always expected.

But when it was over, I felt sad and quickly started counting the 365 days for it to come back.

Well, one year, right in the middle of enjoying my special day - just like a bolt out of the blue - it dawned on me that I should be able to have not just one special day but 365 (even 366 if it was a leap year).

I was learning a lot about God. That He is completely good; that there's not a smidgen of bad in God, or about Him, or about anything He does. I was beginning to get the message that His whole creation is good. Every nook and cranny, every bit of space in His whole wonderful universe, is totally good. I was beginning to get the message, too, that I'm as good as God is. Why? Because He made me that way. He made me in His own "image" and "likeness," as it says in the book of Genesis in the Bible.

So how could I not have a really good day every day? How could one day be really great and the others crummy or just so-so?

The very first sentence in a book called "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, says this: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." ("The sustaining infinite" is another name for God.) Today it says! Not tomorrow, not yesterday, not just that one special day out of the other ordinary ones. Today! That means every day. Every one of those 365 (and don't forget the 366th in leap year) days is big, BIG with good things.

That really got me to thinking. Maybe the rest of the days of the year hadn't seemed so special because I wasn't really paying attention to the good in each one of them. Was I "leaning" on the future or the past, instead of on God? I had been so busy looking forward to that one super day, and looking back at each one that had passed by, that I'd just plain missed out on the good that was going on right in front of me each and every day. Like having a beautiful present all wrapped up just waiting to be opened, but not seeing it because you're so busy looking at something else.

Right then and there, I decided that I'd start expecting every day to be a special one. I'd start looking for all the good in each day. And I had so much fun finding good in each day that my special day became even more special. I no longer had to wait for it. I no longer felt sad when it was over. I just loved it as one more beautiful day in a string of many, many special days.

Does that mean I never have any bad days? Well, not quite. I still have a way to go. But it sure is a lot more fun to keep my eye on today instead of tomorrow or yesterday. And now when I start to have a bad day, I remember to really lean on what I understand about God: that He is total goodness. And about myself: that He made me wholly good. And those days get turned around more quickly. They get filled up so full with good stuff that the bad stuff gets wiped away.

Try learning a little more about God, and His goodness, and your goodness each day. Then lean your thought on all that.

Try it for fun. You just might like it!

I will extol thee,

my God, O king; and

I will bless thy name

for ever and ever.

Every day will I bless thee;

and I will praise thy name

for ever and ever.

The Lord is good to all:

and his tender mercies

are over all his works.

Psalms 145:1, 2, 9

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society