The Gift of a New Day

 

The Gift of a New Day

By John W. Vander velden

 

I observed the sky painted in its glory this morning. The day does not always break in such colorful magnificence, and too seldom I take the time to notice. Even this morning with the many, many things on my agenda, I could have easily done what most morning I have done, hastily push forward not giving the day’s birth a moment’s notice.

But on this particular morning I understood that there are times when it is best to put both feet on the brakes, stop, and force myself to take the time. To take the time to step out in the cool morning. To wander the backyard, stepping on the dewy grass and the leaves shed by our hardwoods that are scattered all about. To gaze with wonder at the colors, the shifting hues of blues, brilliant oranges, and the pale golds that boldly filled the eastern skies.

I was reminded that each morning’s sky is unique...like no other. Taking the time I studied the clouds, their rims set ablaze by the sun, yet to rise. I accepted THIS gift spread before me and promised myself that, on other mornings, I would stand...watch...wait...absorb the wonderful moments of early day.

This morning, as I stood beneath the maple tree that had yet refused to release the bulk of its leaves, my eyes became damp. Aware of the magnificence that surrounded, and once more I KNEW the importance of the gift I had been given...A new day!

Continually driven to do what I can, to make each parcel of time I have been allotted, of value, I sometime forget the value of the time GOD has given. Charging forward as if each day was a footrace. I must DO this or that. Yes, I have been granted gifts which I should not squander. Talents GOD would wish me to use to their fullest. Sometimes that is a heavy burden. But I feel driven to push forward SO hard that I forget to take the time to accept the quiet and almost invisible realities presented me. The laughter of children, my dog’s devotion, my wife’s respect, and my GOD’s presentation of a new day.

None of the things I do will leave long lasting impressions. Yet I strive to make the world, GOD’s world, a little better place. That task, for me, is formidable. I am no more than the single drip of water in a cave that carries with it just a minute particle of sediment that I will add to the slowly growing formations, stalactite or stalagmite. Confident that my tiny addition goes unnoticed, only the smallest part of something much larger. Yet if that is the case then I will be satisfied.

Surely all those thoughts and so much more passed through my mind as I stood...shivering...in my back yard this morning. But for a few brief moments...for a small sliver of my life...I stopped the race...caught my breath as I stood in awe and accepted GOD’s gift of this new day... 

(533 Words) 10-14-2020