DAY 5

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Carpe Diem meaning to seize the day seems to be a popular theme. One morning things just were not going as I had planned and my mind seemed to be a blank as far as an idea for a devotional. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had not seized the day; instead I had been seized by the day! The day had me in its grips and was using up the minutes.

Usually that is all that happens when we are seized by the day. Time is just wasted or used in good ways but not the best ways. Sometimes the day reaches out and touches us in more frustrating ways. One day a woman in Oklahoma City returned to her parked car to find a ticket on her windshield. Every car in Oklahoma at that time was required to have an inspection sticker. On the sticker were two numbers. One number represented the month and the other represented the year. Her sticker had two zeros instead of one to represent the year 2000. She received a ticket for having two zeros. It wasn’t her fault. She had the car inspected and the inspector had placed two zeros there. She refused to pay the fifty-dollar fine and took off a morning of work with her son to go to court. She won but it was a major hassle including the lost time at work.

We’ve all had days when the unexpected and the abnormal intrude on our lives in unpleasant ways. I have heard it said many times when life gives you a lemon make lemonade. Or, in my case write a devotional about it. “Rejoice always,” Paul says. Even when the day may have you firmly in its grips there is most likely something you can rejoice about. As Christians we can always rejoice about having a Savior so wonderful as Jesus. We can rejoice, we can pray, we can thank God for the day that He has made. When you experience a day seizure take a moment to praise your God.