Every New Day, A New Adventure . . .

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, 

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."

~Psalms 90:14

One thing I had a tough time adjusting to when I retired from the university and became a full time pastor was the unpredictable nature of ministry.  Every day is different.  And that's not something I was used to.

There wasn't a lot of variation in my day to day routine up until I retired almost two years ago now.  I did the same things week to week.  I had the same weekly meetings and monthly meetings and quarterly meetings.  There wasn't a lot of variety in the routine.

Then I retired, and I went about turning full-time ministry into a routine.  I set up office hours when I would be at the church and available.  I blocked out time in my calendar to work on my Sunday message.  I blocked out time on my calendar for meetings.  I had time on my calendar to go visit people at home or in the hospital.  And I set some time aside to run errands for the church (I knew there were a lot of those).  

And from day one, that didn't work.  That's just not a reasonable expectation for a small town pastor, because inevitably the phone is going to ring.  Or I'm going to get a text message.  Or something is going to come up that requires immediate attention.  And that is simply the reality.  

I used to know when I got up in the morning (with very few exceptions) exactly what I was going to be doing that day.  But now, every day is a new adventure.  Just this week, I wound up at a ceremony at the VA hospital for a friend of mine--he was presented a "Quilt of Valor" for his service to our country.  That wasn't on my schedule.  The next morning, bright and early I found myself playing pool and talking with one of our members in his amazing recreation room.  That was a last minute invite, too.  A few weeks ago I got attacked by a very aggressive chicken.  I recently met a slobbering dog that's just slightly smaller than a pony.  And a week or so ago I got a call from somebody I barely knew that had some life questions he wanted to discuss and we did that on a picnic table in a local park while being watched very carefully by a bald eagle.  

It drove me crazy in the beginning, but I've discovered that it's the unexpected that arises that brings me the greatest enjoyment and the best opportunity to do God's work.  I've started looking for those unscheduled and unexpected opportunities.  And sometimes when I have a day when something unexpected doesn't arise, I'm kind of disappointed. 

I think it's easy to find ourselves in a routine.  We get into habits--some people might even call it a rut.  And we miss seeing the opportunities and possibilities in every new day.  God lays those out there for each of us.  I believe that.  And all we have to do is say "yes" to them.  All we have to do is be willing to take a little diversion and get off our well-trodden path, get out of our comfort zones from time to time.  We will never know what God has planned for us, the things we can learn, the ways we can serve the Kingdom, if we never step out and explore the possibilities.

I published a book some years ago, called "A Freemason Said That?"  It was a collection of quotes from famous Freemasons.  One of my favorite quotes in that book was something that John Wayne said.  He said, "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."  

Isn't that a great thought--a little wiser each day, and with a clean slate before us.  A new opportunity.  A fresh start!  So what are you going to do today?  What are you going to do with the amazing gift of today!  

~Pastor Todd Creason