God crafts our lives. Each day combines planned, intentional events and surprise encounters, conversations, problems, and joys. At the end of each day, whether in a journal or in our mind, we interpret the day we lived. We write to ourselves, “it was good, bad, mundane, traumatic.” Our minds center on some events and forget others. How we remember defines the color entered on the pages of our autobiography. How we remember is an interpretation, and that interpretation is critical.
Each day is a gift, one we appreciate or gloss over. I had lunch with Scott yesterday. Do I let that time flit away to thin air, or do I remember the life-giving conversation, the connection with our waitress, Tessa, the mid-meal prayer Scott offered, and the support we shared? I can forget that ordinary lunch on an ordinary day and move on to more “important” things, or I can ponder the sacred gift God laid before us. Yesterday, a forgettable day by many measures, was layered with God’s touch.
Mundane or special. Which one is true? They are both interpretations, remembrances of hours spent. If I am honest, the God-gift interpretation feels truer. I just don’t usually take the time and exert the discipline required to reflect on the glory of each day. My laziness in remembering is my loss.
Two days ago, I was treated to the most spectacular sunset. I almost forgot about it until this moment. It is the picture captured at the top of this reflection. How easy it is to forget even the best moments of a day!
Our lives can be a run-together blur of days creating a gray, mundane landscape of remembrance, or we can pause and take a few moments to remember well, whether that makes us grateful or sad, perhaps both. A life well-lived is accentuated by days remembered well.