BONUS! - February 29

Thank you for responding to me God;
you've truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed
is now the capstone!
This is God's work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted—
let's celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life! - Psalm 118:21-25 - The Message

So... what are you going to do with this?

I'm not sure how you do arithmetic, but my calculations tend toward what Ronald Reagan referred to as "Fuzzy Math." My budget, for example, tends to include "Money In," "Money Out," and then another whole leakage area it's hard to get a handle on.

To be honest, I'm really not so sure that numbers actually represent consistent values. I happen to be 55, but I know 45-year-olds who are considerable older than me. I consider myself rich, but many people who earn more than twice our family income complain that they don't have enough.

BONUS! In yesterday's post we talked a little about time. Then this morning - not thinking about the fact that 2012 is both an election and a  summer Olympic year - I woke up expecting March. But now I have this WHOLE EXTRA DAY staring at me!

Wow! How cool is that? What am I going to do with all this extra time?

With a little help from his daddy

DAVID HENRY: I know what my grandson, David is going to be doing. He'll be test-driving his new noise-making piano toy. That's right, four months old and really getting in to some interactive play. At this age, the "extra" day is more than one percent of his life. That's huge!

For me, the ratio is 1/20,429. I know, that sound's like today is at best an insignificant blip on the radar of my life, just a mere 4.2 seconds if my time on earth thus far was a 24-hour day. But you know what? This bonus, extra, four-point-two second gift owns the potential to be life-changing for any one of us, no matter what fraction of our experience it happens to be.

So, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to process this amazing gift of today? Here's my plan (from Romans 12:10-18):

• Love each other deeply.
• Honor others more than yourselves.
• Never let the fire in your heart go out. Keep it alive. Serve the Lord.
• When you hope, be joyful. When you suffer, be patient. When you pray, be faithful.
• Share with God's people who are in need. Welcome others into your homes.
• Bless those who hurt you. Bless them, and do not call down curses on them.
• Be joyful with those who are joyful. Be sad with those who are sad.
• Agree with each other. Don't be proud.
• Be willing to be a friend of people who aren't considered important. Don't think that you are better than others.
• Don't pay back evil with evil. Be careful to do what everyone thinks is right.
• If possible, live in peace with everyone. Do that as much as you can.

"I'm busy here, this is très important..."

Look at my grandson, David. He's seizing this day with focus and energy. So why not the rest of us? It's a bonus, extra, a day serendipitously slipped in as an opportunity to live with abandon.

This is it! This is a day created especially for us. What else can we do other than celebrate? (Psalm 118:24 TDMV) - DEREK

Note: "TDMV" = The Derek Maul Version.... :-)