Don't Let Today Be Routine

It is easy to fall into a routine. "Let's see," we say to ourselves, "what do we do on Wednesdays?" We do those things week in and week out without much thought. Eventually, we have lived our lives without many incidents we can remember. Most of these are tragedies.

Does it have to be that way? Can't we live our lives each day with an expectation of adventure? Does today have to mundane? Can it become the first day of your exciting life? Of course, but not by making it routine.

You may think that I am telling you to make a "bucket list." You know, a list of things you should do before you die. You could start on that list today. You could do some of those things. In a way I am. However, I don't think it will be the things that you must do that are going to make the big difference in your life. I think that it will be the things that you do for others that will make your life meaningful. It will change who you are more than completing a self-centered bucket list.

What could you do today that will make a difference in someone's life? Could you buy a card for your spouse and fill the whole left side of the card with things you admire about him/her? Could you call an old friend and say that you thought of him/her today and just wanted to call? Could you take one of your children out for something special without it being a special occasion? There are so many possibilities of how we can make this day special that I can't list them all.

You may think that it won't make any difference. Let me relay a story which will prove you wrong:

In The Effective Father, Gordon MacDonald wrote: "It is said of Boswell, the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson, that he often referred to a special day in his childhood when his father took him fishing. The day was fixed in his mind, and he often reflected upon many things his father had taught him in the course of their fishing experience together.
"After having heard of that particular excursion so often, it occurred to someone much later to check the journal that Boswell's father kept and determine what had been said about the fishing trip from the parental perspective. Turning to that date, the reader found only one sentence entered: 'Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted.' "

Don't let today be routine. Make it special for your sake and for the sake of someone else.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
¹¹  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.