Category: Psalms

Our reading for today is Psalm 118:24.

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

The summer I was eighteen, I worked in a steel foundry. The word was hard and the heat pressed down like a heavy blanket. My hope was fixed on the day I’d leave for college. That thought always helped me make it through the day. One afternoon, I told an older worker how I couldn’t wait for the future. He looked at me and said, “Don’t wish today away. One day you’ll look back and wish you had this day again.”  

Though he may not have known it, he was reminding me of what Scripture already said, “This is the day the Lord has made.” Not tomorrow. Not someday. Today.  

At eighteen, I could devour pizza and milkshakes without consequence. I could sit on the floor without a second thought. Now, choices come with caution, and getting up requires a plan, a prayer, and perhaps some furniture to hold on to. But here’s the truth: whether we are eighteen or eighty, this day is still a divine gift. Don’t wish it away. 

God doesn’t linger in yesterday’s regrets or wait for tomorrow’s dreams. He is here, present in this breath, this smile, this step. Don’t hurry past it. Don’t wish it away. Each sunrise is His gift. This day is not ordinary, because today is the day the Lord has made, especially for you.

I’m Lonnie Davis, and these are thoughts worth thinking.  

Don’t Bury Your Talent

 Not one is a thousand would recognize the name of Reginald Heber. On April 3, 1826 he served as a missionary in India. That day he preached outdoors under a hot Indian sun. To cool off, afterward he went for a dip in a nearby pool. While in the pool he had a stroke and drowned.

 A few days later his wife was going through his belongings and found in his trunk several old songs that he had written but never published. Among those songs was one that he wrote called, “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty.” Since that discovery millions of people, if not billions, have been blessed by the work of Reginald Heber.

 This is not a note about what a great song he wrote, but about how he buried that song in a trunk. He had great talent, but he buried that talent.

 One cannot help wondering how many of us have done the same thing. How many of us have a song, a story, or a sermon that we have never shared? Fear is a powerful force that can cause us to bury our talent. It may seem like no big deal, but we would do well to remember the Lord’s answer to the man who buried his talent, “You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.” (Matt 25:27)

 God did not call us to sit on our opportunities or talents. The talents God has given to you is God’s gift to you. What you do with those talents is your gift to God.

 I’m Lonnie Davis, and these are thoughts worth thinking.