...is a good day"

The title of today's post is the second half of one of my favorite sayings.  I generally share this particular bit of wisdom when people ask, "How are you?" without really wanting to know the answer.

My reply to this casual question catches people off balance, and makes them uncomfortable... but I assure them it is meant to be positive... and to express gratitude for what I have.

Today is a beautiful day here in Israel.  The sky is the color of a robin's egg... there is a warm, gentle breeze blowing the smell of fresh flowers into recently opened windows... the sound of birds carries for an unusually long distance through the fresh, clear air... and everybody seems to have forgotten their jackets and sweaters in their cars on the way to wherever they were going this morning.

Unfortunately, someone forgot more than his sweater this morning.  Someone went to sleep yesterday and forgot to wake up.  He forgot a lifetime of living and a universe of people that he had spent his short stay on earth loving.  When he closed his eyes for the last time, he couldn't know that they would never open again.

Why am I getting ready to leave work early to attend the funeral of a close friend's younger brother?  Why, instead of enjoying this beautiful day, is a man more than two years younger than I am, laying on a stone slab in Jerusalem waiting with endless patience for his two older brothers to place him carefully in his grave?  Why doesn't he deserve to enjoy this beautiful day?

It scares me not to have handy answers to these and other questions... but I take a bit of comfort from having a handy saying... actually more of a mantra... to offer perspective.

"Every day above ground... is a good day"