Every day a good one

Have you ever thought about the fact that of all the things you can choose, how you approach each day you're given is one of them?

You have the ability, the right, the incentive, to decide how your day is going to go. Or at the worst, you have the ability to choose how you receive each day, the contents of each day.

A dear friend, who married for a second time about a year ago, told me a while back that he told his new bride that every day they were together would be a good day. "I choose to make it a good day," he said. "We're going to have a good day. Period."

Grander words were never voiced.

That doesn't mean that everything that ever happens to the couple will be great or even good as the world would see it. Maybe everything will be preposterously bad. But how they receive the news, how they receive the difficulty dictates everything. How they respond to the difficulty is key to it all.

There are millions of examples I could give you that prove that wealth, prosperity and material things don't satisfy anyone.

Most times getting more stuff only takes us to the point where we want more. Look at the stars of Hollywood. How many of them are addicted to alcohol and/or drugs? How many have multiple marriages? How many of them are empty at the end of their day? How many have money and incredible houses and fancy cars yet can't find true happiness?

There is a hunger they can't satisfy, a thirst they cannot quench.

But let's not pick on one element of society. This reasoning applies to all of us.

The Apostle Paul chimed in about this a couple thousand years ago. He wrote, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

The secret, then, to happiness, to joy, to being content is to be joyously, uncommonly, unbelievably, filled with gratitude for whatever we're given.

Oh, some of us might not have much, but what we have, we should be thankful for. Some of us might have much, but we should remember where that came from, and we should be gracious.

Every day should be a good day. What a wonderful concept.