Number Your Days

This past Monday was Groundhog Day.  It has always amazed me that a groundhog gets a "day."   I wonder how all the other animals feel about that?  No offense to the critters, but Groundhog Day is probably best known because of the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. 

If you haven’t seen the movie you probably know the premise.  A disgruntled television reporter is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the Groundhog Day festivities and is further disgruntled when he is snowed in and has to stay another night.  He wakes up the next day and, instead of it being the day after groundhog day, it's groundhog day all over again.  This cycle humorously repeats itself giving Phil, the disgruntled reporter, a chance to perfect that day.  Through a process of trial and error he gets to relive a day until he finally gets it right.  Happy ending.  Roll the credits.

The movie, of course, is fantasy.  Things like that don’t happen.  Although there are some days when we'd like a "do-over", the fact of the matter is that life is a one shot deal.  Each day starts and each day ends and when the clock strikes midnight the day is gone - forever.  Every day is a slice of life that can never be reclaimed .  The moral of Groundhog Day, as a I see it, is to recognize this reality and make sure that you do all you can to get every day right!

The Bible encourages us to "number our days."  What an interesting thought.  Each day has a number, a unique marker that will never repeat itself.  Too often I think of life in terms of years.  After all, we celebrate our birthday once a year.   When asked my age I would tell you I'm 53.   We measure our lives in 365 day units.  I suppose that makes it easier to keep track of things,  but what if we celebrated every day!  If we did,  I'm 19,397.  Try blowing out all those candles!

The Bible also reminds us that, "This is the day the Lord has made!"  God has made "this" day, and I figure that anything God has made has a function and a purpose.  This day is unique.  I'll never have another February 6, 2015.   There are no do-over's, so if I'm going to get this day right I must recognize I have one chance, and one chance only.

Granted, some days will be better than others.  Some days will be more productive than others.  Some days will be more memorable.  Some days we will wish never happened.  Some days will be wasted.  But to make the most out of our lives, which is really just a compilation of days, we must greet each dawn and give it its unique number knowing that it will never repeat itself.  If we don’t, we will come to the end of our days and wonder where all those 24 hour units went.

On the other hand, when we treasure every day as its own unique gift we radically increase the probability that we will get more and more of those days right, and as those days pile up we will see that we have built for ourselves a life that will have a happy ending!

Well, I'm going to live #19,397 today.  Have a yourself a great "day"!

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.