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Special Days Indeed! · 30 March 2024

Speaking of special days, Good Friday and Easter are here! Special days indeed.

If you are reading this blog post on Thursday (because you read it early on Facebook or X, formerly Twitter), you are reading it on Maundy Thursday. Which is the commemoration of the Last Supper. The day when Jesus of Nazareth washed the disciples’ feet and when He instituted the sacrament of communion. If you are reading it Saturday (when it is technically released), Good Friday has already passed, and Easter Sunday is just around the corner. Regardless of when you read it, all of these are special days!

I have not always loved Good Friday. I mean think about it. Why would Christ followers the world over celebrate the day when the Lord, God himself, was crucified? It is a bit crazy when you look at it from the outside. When you do not know the whole story. Which is where the disciples were. They were terrified on Friday when it happened. And all of Saturday too. Which is completely understandable. They were looking for the King of kings to take His throne. Instead, He was crucified like a common criminal. So it is completely understandable that the disciples hid and cowered in fear of the Romans. Good Friday indeed.

When you read more of the history of Good Friday, you see that it was a dismal day. The sky was darkened for several hours. The Lord was forsaken. Only a few of His disciples watched His torment and death on the cross. It was a dark day indeed.

Fortunately, nowadays, we have the luxury of hindsight. We have history on our side, so we know that Easter is coming. Good Friday would not be so good, if it was the end of the story. But history tells us that it is not the end at all. In fact, it is just the beginning. Oh sure, there was the whole precursor to the cross. Jesus had a public ministry for about three years. And of course, we celebrate Christmas because it is good to celebrate the birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords. (Which, by the way, would just be a day like any other day without Easter.) And we know what happened after the resurrection, after Easter, too. Those cowering disciples became bold and preached to the world that Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!

Now, I did not plan to write about Good Friday and Easter (not to mention Maundy Thursday and Christmas) when I wrote about Pi Day and Leap Day or when I mused about every day being special. But it fits. After all, Easter is really what makes every day special. Without Easter, there is not much hope. Life just goes by. Day by day. Week by week. Year by year. Without much hope. Without much meaning. But when we realize that God thinks of us as special and that He has a plan for us, we realize that we do have a place in this vast universe. And when we realize that He wants the best for us, that He wants us to be near Him, we have hope.

So as fun and special as Pi Day and Leap Day are, they do not compare to Good Friday and Easter. These are special days indeed. And when you go through your dark days (we all have them), remember Good Friday. Remember the pain and suffering of Jesus. Remember the hopelessness of the disciples. But more importantly, remember that there is hope. There is hope because Easter is coming.

Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed.

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I Hope Your Every Day Is Special · 23 March 2024

I hope your every day is special. I really do.

Think about it. Everything may not be awesome as they sing in The Lego Movie, but every day can be special. I know. I am a bit Polyannaish. But that is okay. I do not mind thinking that every day your feet hit the ground is a special day. Or thinking that every day that you get to take another breath is a special day. Or even thinking that every day is a gift, a present from God. Hmm… Maybe the song from The Lego Movie is right with a word change. Every day is awesome.

(By the way. I hope that you did not get the Everything Is Awesome song stuck in your head. It is a silly song that just sneaks up on you. Everything is awesome. Everything is awesome. I know. Not everything is awesome. But life is pretty good. It really is a gift. All you need to do is be present. Or something like that.)

Now where was I? Oh yes. Awesome.

Okay. So every day is not awesome. But the present is still a present. A gift, as it were. And I know that not every gift is so great. But living and breathing is pretty special. Sure beats the alternative. Then again, I heard a preacher say one time that life here on earth is as close to hell as some people will ever get and as close to heaven as others will get. Not necessarily a cheery thought. Depending on your perspective.

And speaking of songs with perspective. As I was sitting here writing, I thought of a song from the old Disney move, Robin Hood. “Sometimes ups outnumber the downs. But not in Nottingham.” Those lyrics come to mind when I think of bad days. Even so, I tend to think that the ups usually outnumber the downs. Which is one of the reasons why I think that every day is special.

Okay. Enough Pollyannaishness.

I hope that you believe the present is truly a gift. Even if your ups do not outnumber your downs. I hope that your every day is special. (And I hope you get the Everything Is Awesome song out of your head soon.)

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Pi Day and Leap Day · 16 March 2024

I cannot believe that I missed an opportunity to write about a special day! I missed an opportunity to write about a special day that only comes around once every four years. Leap Day.

If you did not know. Leap Day was and is February 29th. Yes. February 29th. I think I forgot to write about it because it only comes around once every four years. Which is pretty cool. Or not. Think about it. People who have their birthdays on Leap Day would only ever get to celebrate on their true birthday once every four years. (Which is not to say that they age at one quarter of the speed of everybody else. Which would be quite the interesting feat.)

(By the way. Most of the people who have this birthday seem to celebrate their birthdays on March 1. Which makes sense. After all, February 28th, which comes around every year, by the way, is the day before their birthday. Which would be odd. Celebrate one day early? Preposterous. That would be like celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. Which, I know, is not that preposterous. At least celebrating on the first instead of the twenty-eighth seems to be the case with most of the people I have talked to.)

At any rate.

I suppose that I have written about Leap Day. But I do not know. I do not remember everything I write. I seem to just post a blog and forget it. It must be maddening for my few readers (both real and imaginary). They talk to me about a blog post and I forgot what I wrote. I know. I am strange.

On the other hand, Pi Day comes every year. March fourteenth. 3.14. Which in 1592 or 1593 would have been even more accurate. At least if you left out all but one of the periods or slashes or whatever delimiter to get 3.141592 or 3.141593. Then again, if you really wanted to be more accurate with numeric dates, you would put the year first, then the month, then the day. I do not write my dates that way, but they are surely more easily sorted that way. (Unfortunately, it does not make for a very good Pi Day (1592.3.14).)

At any rate.

Pi Day is celebrated by math geeks the world over. Woo hoo! Pi Day! I am sure there are pi pies sold far and wide. Which, by the way, is how I remembered that I should have written about Leap Day and Pi Day. I used a picture of a pi pie on my last blog blog. (Yes, I wrote, “blog blog” on purpose purpose.) I thought the pi pie was a clever picture for a post about clever word play. Then I realized… I could have had a V8. I mean, I realized… I could have written about Leap Day.

Which is right back where I started. I cannot believe I missed an opportunity to write about a special day. Ah well. Instead, I got to ramble on about two special days. Leap Day and Pi Day.

I hope that you had a special Leap Day and a special Pi Day. And I hope your every day is special.