The Good New Days

P'scuse me for repeating this concept, but learning comes from repetition and memorization. I ate a lettuce sandwich on Monday night that I made from lettuce that friends from church brought by. I told them that when I was a kid, a lettuce sandwich, with spreadable salad dressing on bread with nothing else, was a summer favorite. When I had the sandwich the other night, I hoped it would take me back to the good old days and some good memories from before all of this stuff started. Instead, it created a new good memory of good friends who raised the lettuce in their garden who knew how to administer their "good medicine."

You've heard me say it and I will continue to say it as much for my benefit as yours.."The best days are ahead of us." The good old days are there as a point of reference for how much better the rest of our days can be. My friend Bo doesn't say, "Yesterday was a great day!" He says, "Today, was the best day ever!" He does have some days that aren't that (like yesterday - he had a fever spike), but he knows that the next "Best Day Ever" is in front of him. Not behind him. In the play, "Shadowlands," by William Nicholson, the character of C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, "For believe me, this world that seems to so substantial is no more than the shadowlands. Real life has not begun yet."

Unless I am wrong, all significant religions focus on the future. My mainline Protestant faith focuses on the future without the need for the regret of the past. Focusing on the past and the guilt associated with it is not a faith process to which I can align myself. I focus on the promise of the good days ahead. Some days I lose the focus because there is tough stuff between now and then and I have to deal with it. We all can deal with tough stuff. We aren't perfect in how we deal with it. It's not required. In addition, there's always help in the form of others.

I'll give you details of what's on my schedule in tomorrow's post. For now, "L'Chaim", "Sallallahou Alayhi Wasallam," "Shalom," and "Go n-eírí an bóthar leat."