This is the day

Wet & Windy

On Monday I was walking by the sea. It was wet and very windy.

‘Good morning’, I said to a man taking his dog for a walk. ‘This weather is bl**** sh**. It’s f****** ….’ He continued. Initially I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. My cheeriness didn’t help.

I met an older couple, wet and battling against the wind and rain. I recognised them from church; we chatted.

‘My grandmother would never let us complain about the weather.’ I said. ‘She would say, ‘This is the day the Lord has made. We should rejoice and be glad in it.’’

They were neither rejoicing nor glad.

Musing

This is the day. I can worry about future uncertainties, ill-health, the potential crisis

I think of my brother’s cancer; a friend, weary from the challenges of a troubled young adult at home; another, anxious about the results of hospital tests; comments questioning a friend’s sexuality; medication and counselling for a mental health issue; a father separated from his newly-born baby daughter…

Today is today. I make the most of it. The opportunities, the chance meeting, the smile or greeting, the meaningful conversation, the deliberate phone call. One day at a time.

Bridge Building

I’m helped by Robert Quinn’s notion of “building the bridge as you walk on it”.

There would be security in a predictable life that I could control. It isn’t. I don’t know what will happen today, or tomorrow… or next year. I need to build a bridge across the chasm of this uncertainty.

I don’t know if I’ll have the resources. There are no ready-made flat-pack bridges of my life that experienced builders have already made.

Each new day is part of an unbuilt bridge. I can either fear or embrace each day’s uncertainty. I build today’s bridge as I walk on it.

Reference: Psalm 118:24. Robert E Quinn ’Building the Bridge as you Walk on it’ (2004)