When I’m having one of those days where I’m annoyed or frustrated, I always remember the saying that someone out there in the world would give anything to have one of my bad days. I take that to mean that what I call my bad days are better than their best days. It helps give me a little perspective.

Most of the world would give anything for one of your bad days where you have more than one meal, access to clean water, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, transportation, and so much more. So many would love to have all those things we routinely take for granted on a daily basis. Again, it helps to have a bit of perspective.

Measure your life by what you have, not by what you don’t.

“What God is doing in the coronavirus is showing us—graphically, painfully—that nothing in this world gives the security and satisfaction that we find in the infinite greatness and worth of Jesus. This global pandemic takes away our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face relations. It takes away our security and our comfort. And, in the end, it may take away our lives. The reason God exposes us to such losses is to rouse us to rely on Christ. Or to put it another way, the reason he makes calamity the occasion for offering Christ to the world is that the supreme, all-satisfying greatness of Christ shines more brightly when Christ sustains joy in suffering.” (John Piper, 82)

2020 was a dumpster fire. I think just about everyone agrees that it was not a year any of us want to relive any time soon.

But I think it made us painfully aware of our dependence on and desperate need of God for every waking moment. When all the props and crutches got kicked away, we found out the hard way where our hope really was. For most of us, our idols got exposed big time.

Yet God is faithful and patient, not treating us and our idolatry as we deserve, but granting us mercy upon mercy. May Jesus become supreme in our vision in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

I remember a pastor I knew once said that Jesus never gives us an excuse for disobedience. We are called to love our enemies. Period. We are called to forgive those who hurt us. Period. Note: forgiveness does not mean we disregard the hurt or allow the other to continue to hurt us.

In matters of debate, we are always to speak the truth, but always in love. We are called to seek peace, but never at the expense of compromising our core beliefs. We are called to love people, but not by enabling them in their sin. As I read recently, Jesus hung out with prostitutes and drunkards and outcasts, but when He was finished with them, they weren’t prostitutes and drunkards and outcasts anymore. He had transformed them, not indulged them. He calls His people to surrender, not comfort. He calls us to align ourselves to His standards, not the other way around.

But it’s always in love.

It’s not a holiday per se, but I did get the day off since July 4 fell on a Sunday.

It’s always nice to have a day off, especially when that day is Monday.

I may have a Double Monday tomorrow, but it will be worth it to have an extra day to sleep in and to do nothing.

And it’s a 4 day work week.

I call that a win-win.

I’m thankful that life is slowly but surely returning to normalcy. That means the return of concerts at Crockett Park in Brentwood, Tennessee. That also means the return of fireworks on July 4.

I used to be scared of fireworks. I suppose it was the loud noises that I didn’t like. I’d cover my little ears and pray for an end to all the craziness. As I got older, I found that I didn’t mind the loudness as much, and I learned to appreciate the beauty and art of a good fireworks display.

This particular evening turned out to be just about perfect. The weather could not have been any better. There were food trucks aplenty. There were also people aplenty.

So here I am, full of hamburger and ice cream and good memories. Even the drive home wasn’t so bad, considering the number of people trying to leave at the same time.

Happy 245th birthday, America!

“In obeying, a rational creature consciously enacts its creaturely role, reverses the act by which we fell, treads Adam’s dance backward and returns”(C. S. Lewis).

Read that again. Slowly. Then read it again. Read it as many times as it takes to sink in. It took me more than a few times.

Every act of obedience to God brings us one step closer to God’s original design. We come one step closer to reversing the effects of original sin and the fall.

Only God in Jesus can undo all the evil and chaos that resulted from Adam and Eve’s original disobedience, but He chooses to work through our obedience, accomplished only through the power of the risen Christ living in us.

I’m thankful the week is over. It wasn’t bad. It was just long. And I mean looooooooooooooong. It felt like it lasted 31 days. And that’s not even counting Monday.

Not every day is going to be your best ever. That’s okay. Some days if the best you can say is that you survived and didn’t murder anyone, that’s a win. Some days if you can get your pants on successfully, that’s a good day.

I prefer sunshine, but if every single day was sunny with no rain, then the grass and trees and flowers would all wither and die. Nothing would grow. There are places with all sunshine and no rain. We call those places deserts.

You need rainy days, as dismal and depressing as they can be sometimes. Rain makes things grow and thrive. You need days and weeks that are less than stellar. You learn life lessons and above all, you learn to appreciate the good days and the good weeks more.

Again, it was not a bad day or a bad week. Just meh. I think a good night’s sleep and a good long weekend will help set things right again.

“Going home is a lifelong journey. There are always parts of ourselves that wander off in dissipation or get stuck in resentment. Before we know it we are lost in lustful fantasies or angry ruminations. Our night dreams and daydreams often remind us of our lostness.

Spiritual disciplines such as praying, fasting and caring are ways to help us return home. As we walk home we often realise how long the way is. But let us not be discouraged. Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. When we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way” (Henri Nouwen).

I don’t suppose this story will ever get old for me.

Four years ago, I went to the Williamson County Animal Shelter to look at and possibly pick up a new feline. I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time, but secretly I was hoping for another cat like Lucy.

I’ll never forget when I was standing in line, waiting to sign the papers to adopt a little tuxedo kitten when I just happened to look behind me to see a tiny tortie paw reaching out to me. I heard the teensiest little meow that seemed to say, “Pick me instead!”

I saw that lonely little tortoiseshell kitten with a mismatched tan foot. When I went to her cage, she started purring. I had found the one. She had rescued me.

So nine days after my first cat Lucy crossed the rainbow bridge and took a piece of my heart with her, I took home this kitten who would soon become Peanut. She is the most gentle feline I have ever known. She still has that tiny little meow and loves to take naps and hide. She’s polar opposite of Lucy in many way, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My cat Peanut is weird.

She has this lovely blanket that I went through all this trouble to fold and lay over the couch so she would have a comfortable place to nap. Or more accurately, yet another comfortable place to nap among many.

So what does she do? She sleeps BESIDE the blanket, and not on it. She actually slept on the blanket once, and then decided it was much more fun to lay next to it. I think the term unpredictable applies to this little feline.

If I were to ask her why she doesn’t just sleep on the blanket like a normal critter, she’d probably say something like “Well, if you wanted a normal, predictable pet, you should have gotten a dog.”

It helps her cause that she’s just so darn cute.