Another day...

"Another day..." That's what the stranger said to me as we exit the coffee shop this morning. Instead of filling in the blank with the predictable "another dollar", I said inwardly "...thank goodness."

Saying "thank goodness" for this day is an acknowledgement for the gift of another opportunity to act, think and speak from a place of love, peace, and happiness. It's another day to get better in letting go of worries and anxieties and fears that keep me from seeing the Divine in everyone. It's another day to die to this world of inordinate desires and consumption, of plugging and numbing my senses with instant pleasures that inevitably lead to pain and sorrow. It's definitely another day to be present, to pay attention, to accept and breathe in blue skies, green trees, red-yellow-white flowers, and children playing in the sun. It's another day to breathe out lovingkindness to all beings.

How about you? How do you greet the day? Can you smile in front of the mirror first thing in the morning and say "you lucky you"?

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than live in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

he bestows favour and honour.

No good thing does the Lord withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts,

happy is everyone who trusts in you.

-Psalm 84 (NRSV)