A good day starts within

By Rennie Phillips

Most of us are a mix of the traits of our relatives. Dad seemed like he could visit with anyone. He could meet a total stranger and they'd be visiting in minutes about everything from the weather on. Mom was a little more reserved. But both of them liked to visit. I do as well. So a lot of times I use a kind of "opener" to start the conversation.

For a long time I've asked the same question to a lot of people and I'm never sure what the answer will be. "How is your day going?" is the question. Many will say good. I would imagine that most will say "Good" or "Great" as a polite response. For some the answer will be "Good so far." For some it's a pat answer no matter how they are really doing. But for some their answer is real.

When they answer "Good so far" it's almost as if those I ask are waiting for the other shoe to drop and then the day will go to pot. Or maybe they didn't want to jinx the day by saying it is really going good. I've thought about this a lot but never really sat down and wrote about it. At least I don't think I have. Seems like part of getting older is my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be.

What constitutes a good day? Probably everyone will have a different answer. For some making money will make the day a good one. It might really make your day if you find money just lying there on the ground. It makes your day but ruins it for someone else. For some a successful day would be a live well full of fish. For some it's getting to spend a day on the beach. For some it's spending a day in the outback with not a soul for miles. For some it's spending the day with family and friends. For some just a day of no plans would make a great day. I've had those days when a good day is a good cup of coffee and a wood fire.

I think what is going on has a big influence on how our day is going. But there are other factors as well. For me it's not so much what is going on but it's more about how I'm handling the day. If I wake up tired or not feeling good or just stressed out my day probably won't go very well. If my mind raced all night long and I just couldn't sleep very well then me having a good day is unlikely. So, for me, having a good day isn't so much about what is going on, but it's about me inside having a good day. If my spirit is having a bad day then no matter how good all the other stuff is I'm probably not going to have a good day. My good day starts inside me, inside my spirit.

Maybe -- and this is a big maybe -- we focus on the little stuff and we don't focus on the big things. Maybe we focus on the negatives and lose sight of the positive things or the good things. I have a ton of things to do right now. I've been working on getting my garden out, keeping the yard mowed, getting our grape vines ready for the summer, doing some major work on a rent house and the list goes on and on. It is hard for me to look beyond the "to do list" and look at the "done" list.

My prayer list seems like it's getting longer and longer full of people I know who have cancer or who have had strokes. Some that I've prayed for have passed away. I lost a dear friend a couple months ago. I've gone by his grave a couple times just kind of telling him I miss him. Sometimes it's difficult to have a good day. There can be so much stuff going on that it kind of shuts out the joy.

That inner joy or being able to say it's a good day has to come from a joyful spirit, a happy soul. It's more than just how the day is going or even the week or the year. That joy has to be able to rise above naysayers or downers or negatives. Not everything in my life is great. There are bumps along the road. I struggle with my diabetes and all the rest. But my joy doesn't have to be based on the negatives or the difficulties. Facebook is a real bummer when all the posts are negative or critical. We don't need a steady diet of negative junk. Delete it.

So when someone asks me "How is your day going?" I can answer pretty darn good even amidst the struggles. First and most important is I gave my life to Christ back in Nebraska in the '70s. I took this first step while out coyote hunting all alone. I've been married to the same woman for some 45 years. She started her journey with Christ about the same time as I did. I think she was washing dishes. My wife and I have two healthy boys and one is married and has given us two grandkids. We have a bunch of friends and family spread out all across this country of ours from the East Coast to the West Coast. We have been able to buy a place outside the city to raise a few steers and have a passel of cats and one dog. Yeah, I think I'm blessed.

Some today are waiting on the lottery. Some are waiting on that perfect spouse. Some are trying to lose that weight that just seems to hunt them down. I'd call them short-term temporary fixes. I'd invest in eternal stock.

Just my thoughts.