Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. [Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)]
The weatherman declared it to be “one of the ten best days of summer” and I thought of his words throughout the day. How many of those ten days have we already had this summer? What if, not knowing it was one of the ten best days, I missed it? Could I have been blinded to its beauty by the routine obligations, boring chores, petty annoyances, and minor frustrations of everyday life?
When reading the list of his ordeals in 2 Corinthians, is would seem that the Apostle Paul probably missed enjoying most of the best days of every season. He faced death many times and endured several imprisonments, countless beatings (three times with rods), and numerous whippings (five times with 39 lashes which was the maximum punishment allowed). The victim of stoning once, Paul also was adrift at sea for a day and night and shipwrecked three times. Not only was Paul weighted down with his concern for the early church but he also had a “thorn” in his flesh, quite likely a chronic ailment, that had tormented him for fourteen years. Since he lived another nine to twelve years after writing the Corinthians, that thorn probably continued to plague him and more trials and troubles certainly followed. All in all, Paul travelled about 15,000 miles on land and sea and endured sleepless nights, hunger, thirst and cold, faced hazards from bandits and even his own people, and spent between five and six years of his life imprisoned before being beheaded by the Romans between 64 and 67 AD. He endured all of this to proclaim the gospel and yet Paul never complained about missing out on any of the “best” days because he knew the secret of living in every situation—of making every day his best day.
We shouldn’t need a weatherman to tell us it’s one of the ten best days and we certainly don’t need good weather for the day to qualify. In fact, every day should qualify as one of the ten best days of whatever season it happens to be. Paul, a man who endured horrible ordeals both physically and emotionally for the church, knew that best days had nothing to do with circumstances but everything to do with attitude. He tells us to be joyful, to pray, and to give thanks to God in all circumstances (and not just on the good days). With an attitude like his, in spite of his sufferings, every day Paul experienced must have been one of his best. I’d venture to say that most of us suffer far less than did the Apostle and yet, instead of starting the day cheerfully saying, “Good morning, Lord!” many of us grumble, “Good Lord, it’s morning!” Let this day be one of your ten best; after all, you don’t know how many more remain!
Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” [John 14:1-4 (NCV)] 
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:37-38 (NLT)]
Grey hair may be a crown of glory and the splendor of old age, but that’s about all the splendor and glory I see in advanced years. As my mother-in-law approaches her 102nd birthday, there is little about her quality of life that I consider glorious or splendid. Her sparkling personality, vigor and enthusiasm, along with her hearing, visual perception, ability to reason, and memory are vanishing. Occasionally a spark of her old self resurfaces but, for the most part, the essence of the woman who has been a mother to me for over fifty years has disappeared.
I was singing along with Zach Williams, “Fear, he is a liar,” when I recalled one of my memory verses: “The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?” [Psalm 27:1] I then realized a commonality in the Bible verses I’ve been memorizing: fear. If asked, I wouldn’t say I’m a fearful person and yet the Bible verses I’ve been memorizing contradict me. I don’t suffer an assortment of phobias nor do I see a threat around every corner. I’m not unduly anxious—I don’t pace, bite my nails, stay awake all night, or binge eat. While I’m cautious when the situation calls for caution, I don’t consider myself irrationally fearful, so why did I choose to memorize so many Bible verses dealing with fear?
Devotions of the Heart 