My favorite day

“This is the day the Lord has made …” (Psalm 118:24)

For some of us, this season of COVID has felt a bit like the movie Groundhog Day. Have you seen it? In the movie, Bill Murray plays a cynical TV weatherman who finds himself reliving the same day, over and over again, when he goes on location to Punxsutawney to report about their annual Groundhog Day. His predicament just about drives him crazy until he sees a different way of looking at it.

Is that what the psalmist meant when he wrote, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Can we choose to look at our days differently? Can we find joy in the midst of trial and travel restrictions?

Recently, Winnie the Pooh helped me with this – Pooh and Piglet are walking along together in the forest and Pooh asks, “What day is it?” Piglet replies, “It’s today.” And Pooh says, “My favorite day!”

Perhaps that’s what the psalmist was thinking when he wrote, “This is the day … we will rejoice and be glad in it.” THIS day - the one with continuing COVID impact, the one with health challenges and financial challenges. The one with ongoing political turmoil and natural disasters.

It’s understandable that sometimes we want to be anywhere but here (in our present circumstance). If we could just snap our fingers and end up on the other side of whatever challenge we face. If we could move

beyond a repeating “Groundhog Day.”

But I believe the psalmist is telling us that there is a gift, “in the now,” in this present moment, in this day. All the while we’re straining forward to what is beyond our reach and we forget that the gift of gifts is already given - Immanuel, God with us, Alpha and Omega. Author Richard Neuhaus writes, “We are forever seeking, while the forever for which we seek is now. Awaken to the truth, that every moment contains eternity.”

This IS the day the Lord has made … let’s rejoice … and be glad in it. This gift, this day; let’s rejoice, despite whatever circumstances we face. THIS day, my favorite day!