Do we really rejoice in each new day? Or do we allow our circumstances to dictate how we feel?

Bills are due: bad day.
Children are arguing: bad day.
Hospital visit: bad day.

I think there are very few people who took that verse to heart quite like the apostle Paul.

No matter his circumstance, he found reason to rejoice.

Despite being beaten, persecuted, abandoned, shipwrecked or imprisoned, he looked at each new day as an opportunity to share the love and hope he had found in Christ.

What an incredible perspective! Paul kept his eyes fixed on Jesus. So did Peter. And it allowed him to get out of the boat and walk on water despite the wind and waves.

But the moment he shifted his gaze from the Saviour to the storm, he began to sink.

The same is true for us.

When our eyes are fixed on our circumstances, it’s easy to label our days according to what happens in them.

But what if we stopped looking at our days as either “good” or “bad” – “easy” or “hard” and instead started to see them as His days, offered up for His will.

There is a reason today is called the present – because it truly is a gift from our Father.

So on this Thanksgiving weekend, let us give thanks for the gift of each new day.

For each one is an opportunity to begin again. To be used as an instrument in His hands. To touch a heart. To open someone’s eyes. To bring someone to Jesus.

We may not choose what each day brings, but we can choose where we fix our focus. And when we fix our eyes on Jesus, no matter what we face, we can boldly proclaim:

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”