Today is a Good Day

The parents of a beautiful 5 year old girl, Taylor, who died this past June taught me something very important tonight. They came and spoke at my youth group meeting about the loss of their daugter and the impact that their tremendous loss had on their faith. I came away humbled. Even in the midst of the type of life event that is almost too sad to even comprehend, Keith and Sally have found a way to be thankful for the lessons that their daughter taught them in her living and her dying.

Keith recounted how he began his daughter's eulogy with these words "Today is a good day." Somehow, he said those words just before burying his daughter. What he meant, and part of what Taylor taught him, was that today is all that we have. We can't live in our past, and we may not get tomorrow, so we have to live in today and make sure that it is a good one. Even as she was dying, Taylor lived each day with a smile on her face.

In many ways, it would be easier to live seeing only the negative and to be angry with God. But if we only see anger instead of looking for healing, if we only see suffering instead of the opportunity to serve others, then that is all that we will have - anger and suffering. But if we live, looking with hope for healing and the opportunities to serve each other, then there is no way for every such day to be anything other than, simply, good.

Amen.

and thanks, Taylor.