"Dad, you are not going to believe it but this is the greatest day of my life.”
No, we weren’t at Disney World or Great Wolf Lodge. Honestly, we were surrounded by chaos. I could give you a million guesses and you wouldn’t even come close to figuring out what was happening when Miriam told me that she was having, not just a great day, but the “greatest day of her life”. Do you want to know where we were?
The lunch room at Lake Forest Hills Elementary School.
There were hundreds of kids all around the room and there I sat in a miniature chair, eating lunch at 10:00am with Miriam and Evie. In case you are curious, the lunch trays are exactly the same as they were when you were in school. Yes, the chocolate milk still tastes better from the lunch carton. The pizza was cut in a square and definitely tasted like cardboard. I don’t know if it was the greatest lunch of my life, but it was a pretty wonderful moment.
A few weeks ago, on Sunday morning, I talked about the difference between childish and childlike faith. Jesus, who happens to be an amazing teacher, tells us that if we want to live with joy and meaning, then we need to have “faith like a child”. I can’t be one hundred percent certain, but I am pretty sure that having the greatest day of your life on a completely normal Monday fits the bill for what Jesus was talking about.
What do I mean?
Miriam was thrilled to be at lunch with her dad. She introduced me to, literally, every single person who walked by the table. Evie just grinned at me for the entire forty-five minutes we ate. What happened before lunch didn’t matter and what happened after lunch was light-years from their minds. Both of my girls were completely present in the moment. This lunch was the only thing that mattered.
More than this one day in a school cafeteria, I watch my girls approach every day with a sense of wonder and possibility. They greet the morning with an energy and excitement that we would all be good to follow. Miriam and Evie wouldn’t verbalize it this way, but they live as though every day is a gift. Each day is filled with joy and awe. You have watched the children in your life. You know exactly what I mean when I talk about their outlook on life.
“Look, there’s the moon!”
“Dad, did you see that worm!?”
“Mom, I LOVE those pancakes.”
Every. Day. Is. A. Gift.
I woke up at 5:00 am to a pot of coffee from the mountains of Honduras. I came to work at a job that, while not perfect, tries to make the world a better place. I am surrounded by people that love me and my family. We are all healthy and alive! No doubt about it, life is a gift.
Which leads me to ask you a pretty simple question. How do you see the world? When was the last time you had “the greatest day of your life”?
My friends, I hope that today can be “the greatest day of your life”.
Grace and Peace,
Will