It's a Good Day

This week I am pondering language.

Yesterday, Wednesday, January 11 was a beautiful day. The air crisp, the sun strong, a light snow dusting covered the land, frost clung to the trees like the ice crystals in the above picture. It was a beautiful day. 

On this beautiful day, a group of friends gathered. As Maritimers do, we talked about the weather. 

“It’s a beautiful day,” said one.

“Yes, but you know… it is going to be nasty tomorrow,” said another.

“It has been a beautiful winter with little snow,” said one. 

“Yes, but you know we are going to get hit hard… with a bang!” said another. 

I thought about that conversation and wonder, what deep message rests within our beings that creates an automatic response of foreboding? 

My friend Ivan explains an ancient Celtic legend of ‘little people’ who come to steal things. Apparently, if you said something good, the ‘little people’ would come and steal it away. Since Celtic blood flows through many of our veins, could this legend continue to influence our way of speaking?

I wonder if at some unconscious level, we believe that if we have a little bit of good, we imagine the other shoe will fall and down the road someone will have to pay.

Listen to the response when you ask a friend, “How’s your day?” Often the answer is “It is not a bad day.” Could it be a good day? 

This morning I made a phone call to make arrangements to accompany a friend as they went about their work. The response, “I don’t see why not.” 

One might wonder what does this mean? I truly believe it meant “Yes, we are pleased to have you.” Rather than “Damm it, I can’t think of any reason for you not to come.”

Personally I am always delighted when the response is “Wonderful.” or “Happy to help.”

I wonder, do negative expressions limit our ability to truly enjoy the day, the event, the person? Could we imagine that good could be followed by good? 

Have we as a culture embraced the thought that life is meant to be hard? As if there is some kind of deserve and reward scale that must be balanced with good and bad events. Some kind of mystical quid pro quo system? 

I ponder these questions from a belief that the thoughts we think and the words we speak have a profound impact on creating a world that is life giving for all. 

Yes, life is hard at times. Yes, a dear friend is dying and hearts are weeping. Yes, the weather will be nasty at times… may even be as you read this blog. 

Still for those good moments, for those life giving moments, what difference would it make if our words spoken were gifts of affirmation? 

It is a beautiful day. 

Finally I leave you with the words from a piece we sang on Sunday past. 

To bring hope to every task you do,

to dance at a baby’s new birth,

to make music in an old person’s heart,

and sing to the colours of the earth! *

May it be so. 

*From I Am the Light of the World, Voices United. Words and music Jim Strathdee. v 4.