Fill your days with joy

A few weeks before Christmas, my mail included a card with this marvelous statement,

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; That’s why we call it the present.” I was thrilled by the dual meanings of the word present, which I had never connected before. I was so grateful to have gained such a meaningful insight, itself a gift.

The quote reminded me of an article Mary Baker Eddy wrote for the Christian Science Sentinel in 1908, “We own no past, no future, we possess only now. . . Faith in divine Love supplies the ever-present help and now, and gives the power to ‘act in the living present” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 12).

As I considered the concept, I decided to think of each day not as a gift but as a “gift box,” containing all manner of presents. It would have to be an enormously large box, I thought, for a day can be filled with so much good, especially when you expect it to.

A friend once said to me, “Remember, you cannot expect to receive anything if you have a closed fist!”

So the first thing I do in accepting this gift of the day is to open the box with the expectation of seeing many wonders. After all, when we receive gifts from our family and friends, we look forward to seeing something good that they've selected for us. So can we conceive of each day as a gift of love, intelligence, and goodness from God.

When I thought about what good I wanted to find in the gift box of “day,” I thought of Jesus’ words to his disciples in what Christians call the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

I also thought of Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual interpretation of this part of the Lord’s Prayer in her book Science and Health: “Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections.”

We expect so many things from the day. But good comes from knowing and trusting that God gives us everything we need. And that need, as Mrs. Eddy clarified, is already supplied by the qualities that enrich our spiritual consciousness.

Perhaps the most important of these qualities is gratitude. Our first reaction when we receive a gift is to thank the giver. I always begin each day by expressing gratitude to the giver of the day: to God, divine Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Principle.

But real gratitude isn’t just verbal thanks. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.”

So this gift of the day must be filled with activity. I compare this activity with what I do with presents I receive: I appreciate and use them. I don’t just throw them aside.

But I must regretfully admit to having thrown aside some days, not using them fully or with great joy. I’ve resolved never to waste them again, but to remember to rejoice in the present “present.”

To maximize the experience, I’ve begun asking, “What is my most important activity each day?”

It must be the expression of love. Only by beginning with this activity can others be of any importance. As the writer of First Corinthians stated so emphatically, “If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (I Cor 13:1-3, New Revised Standard Version).

No matter how difficult it may be sometimes to express love toward my colleagues at work, my friends, my family, or strangers I meet, love is the way we experience harmony and is the only true antidote for any inharmonious situation.

Long ago, at a Christian Science testimony meeting I attended, a woman talked about having a serious problem with another person. She concluded by saying she realized hate wouldn’t get either of them out of the problem; therefore her only choice was love.

So with love established as the foundation of the day, I can participate in related activities. For example, the expression of intelligence is important. Understanding man (and this includes men and women) as the reflection of divine Mind has given me the assurance that I can find the right solution to any problem that confronts me.

Mrs. Eddy made the supremacy of divine Mind and man’s relationship to Mind very clear: “…man is the reflection of God, or Mind….” She continued by describing man as “that which has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.”

Such understanding has helped me throughout my career as a teacher and a writer, as well as in other jobs. Several recent experiences reinforced my appreciation for this understanding.

After I retired from my profession as a technical writer, I took a part-time sales job at a ladies’ apparel shop that placed customer service as one of its highest values. Though it is a pleasant place to work, I soon became bored and complained to a Christian Science practitioner that I didn’t feel sufficiently employed. She reminded me that the true meaning of employment isn’t about selling clothes, but about expressing all the qualities of divine Love, such as helpfulness, friendliness, and joy to my fellow employees and customers.

I fully agreed with her. I also thought about intelligence as one of the qualities I was expressing in my job. I was solving problems for those I helped. From that point on, before going to work each day, I prayed to express the true idea of employment.

Those prayers changed my experience. I thought of my job as a laboratory where I could put into practice the spiritual truths I was learning in Christian Science—truths about myself and my fellow men and women.

Soon afterward, a woman came into the shop, who said she’d been in bed for most of the year because she could not face life after her husband’s death. She had recently decided to become active again and needed a new wardrobe to prepare herself, both psychologically and professionally.

My first impulse was to ask another colleague to help her. I didn’t think I could assist her because I’d also lost my husband during the past year. But then I thought, “No, I’m the one, because I understand her feelings.”

As we worked together selecting outfits, we talked about the importance of expressing joy even in the midst of life’s trials. As I helped her carry her purchases to her car, I told her how much I'd enjoyed helping her and that I understood how she felt because I’d recently lost my husband also. After we both shed a few tears, she hugged me and thanked me for both my help and my encouragement to restore her life to a happy state.

Another example: several weeks ago, a young woman came running into the store, saying her boss had forgotten to tell her she was giving a presentation to a group of prospective clients. In jeans, a shirt, and sneakers, she said she had one hour to get ready for her meeting, and she had to do it on a limited budget.

Now this request may have seemed easy, but to find the right size, the appropriate outfit, shoes, and the best price took some work. But we did it, and she left feeling ready both mentally and physically to fulfill her responsibility.

But that’s not the end of the story. Last Sunday, during a workshop at the branch Church of Christ, Scientist, where I’m a member, the same young woman approached me. She said she should have known that I was a Christian Scientist as I had solved her problem so easily, quickly, and happily. While I’m sure my colleagues could have done the same, I will admit that my prayers had been affirming the ability to show love and express intelligence to meet another’s need.

Experiences like this have added a dimension to the “gift” of the day, because now I’m not just the recipient—I'm also a giver.

All of us are—or can be—givers and receivers each day, and from this loving work, we receive and express much joy. Though our Christmas presents have all been opened, we can continue the New Year with the gift of joyous days.

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