This is a continuation from yesterday’s post. Today is another drop dead gorgeous day. There are some clouds but only the front that is east and moving away from us. The remainder of the sky is deep blue. It is the kind of morning that a person has to try to have a bad day.
I was struck when that idea came into my mind, “…try to have a bad day…” Why would anyone want to do that? Then I remembered another day almost exactly like this one. The sky was just as clear. The air was crisp. You could tell that summer was giving way to fall in the mid part of September. It was a day that someone would have to try, even plan, to have a bad day on that second Tuesday of September of 2001.
That is exactly what a small group of men bent on destruction did. They planned to have and give everyone else a bad day. Earlier this week we remembered the 12th anniversary of that terrible day. September 11, 2001 was the greatest loss of life on one day in our nation’s history.
It was a drop dead (pardon the unintended pun) beautiful day all over this nation. Yet, in the midst of incredible beauty, incalculable evil can be brought to bear. Sometimes people are incapable of seeing beauty because they carry internal clouds and darkness which obscure the loveliness that God is giving. Sometimes people are so distrustful of others that they would rather destroy rather than be thankful and receive.
As I was driving this morning and I realized someone could have a terrible day in the midst of such beauty, I was struck with another thought. If people can decide to have a bad day in beauty can others not also decide to have a perfect day in imperfection, or a beautiful day in the midst of clouds and rain?The answer is of course you can decide to have a beautiful, perfect day no matter the circumstances.
I am becoming more inspired as I write! The greatest inspiration of all is decision. By that I mean that each day, hour, minute, and second is before us awaiting our decisions on how to interpret them. Our decisions are what makes our days either terrible or tremendous, beautiful or hideous, destructive or perfcct.
In the next few days we are likely to have cloudy skies, rain, humidity, heat, etc. but now I am seeing things differently. I will awake in a different manner. Instead of looking for what the weather is like and have that determine what my mood will be, I decide to have a great day and allow that to fit into the weather. I decide to have a good day and see beauty no matter the weather or someone else’s decision to bring destruction.
Wow! I have a perfect, beautiful day ahead. There is so much to experience. There is so much to learn! How thankful I am to have another day of life, to experience the fullness God has given in every second.
I will not neglect the possibility of others unleashing destruction in some evil way. That could happen. However, even on that fateful second Tuesday of September the people bent on terrorism and destruction could not control the determination of how those they victimized would respond. They could not control the bravery of firemen and policemen who willingly sacrificed their own lives to save others. They could not control the people on Flight 93, who brought the plane down in a field in Shanksville, PA without external casualty. They could not control thousands of people in NYC and millions throughout the nation who sought out first responders to thank. Those bent on destruction could not control the people who emptied the pit at ground zero in record time, nor could they destroy this nation.
The decision is always ours of how we will see the day ahead, the hour ahead, the minute ahead, and how we will live this very second. Live each second by decision rather than by default. Live this day seeing that it is a gift. Live this day, no matter the external circumstances, as perfect and beautiful. I know that I will! How, you might ask? Simple! I have decided to!