This is the Day

Twelve times a year I celebrate the first day of the new month. It’s a day in which I rejoice in the blessings of God and the life He’s given me, and I do so by filling it with little activities and actions all geared towards making the day special in some way. I do simple things like putting new pictures in picture frames, going out for breakfast, or changing my schedule around to include some playtime instead of just work on that day.

One day during a discussion of “firsts” in our lives I shared with my pastors my practice of first-of-the-month celebrations. Quite naturally they asked me what kind of things I do to mark the day. And suddenly I found myself hesitant to tell them, afraid that my little ceremonies would sound frivolous in light of the spiritual discussion we were having at the time.

In thinking about the situation again later, however, I asked myself what is wrong or unspiritual about simply enjoying life? Repeatedly in the Bible we are told to rejoice in our salvation. Not just once a month, but every day it gives God joy to see me enjoying the world He created and the blessings which fall from His Hands, in whatever way I choose to do so. No activity is unspiritual if it’s done with gratitude in one’s heart towards Him.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
(Psalm 118:24 NIV)

Party Girl

"I'm a Party Girl." The thought brings a smile to my lips and a chuckle from somewhere deep within, probably in the vicinity of where I've kept my party-girl persona safely tucked away and hidden from view all these years.

A partying past is not normally something to be proud of in Christian circles. It's usually associated with a life of sin now covered by the Blood. Once put behind us, we lock the memory of those days away and bury them in the graveyard of our sinful past, rarely re-visiting them as we seek a lifestyle that glorifies the One we now serve. But every once in a while, aspects of our old personality pop up and reveal who we really are deep down inside.

God told me the other day that I wasn't fooling Him with my pretense of propriety. And I'm delighted by the revelation that it's okay to be who I really am, while leaving behind the sinful behavior which dominated my life in the past. I can let the lightheartedness of my life emerge from the more proper and reserved person I thought I had to become to be pleasing to the very One Who put the laughter inside of me in the first place! I am free to embrace each day fully and live it with laughter and joy, as God intended for me to do.

He's looking for "party girls" like me to spend eternity with. After all, the greatest celebration of them all is just about to begin.

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me."
(Psalm 139:1 NIV)