Every Day Can't Be The Best Day

I had a dream not that long ago that was so vivid, lovely, and amazing, I remember thinking to myself while in the dream, "I don't want to wake up." 

I did wake up, of course, much to my chagrin. 

The first feeling I felt was a deep sadness that hit me in the middle of my chest, and then made its way to my throat, from which issued a single, sorrowful, and very nearly silent cry of "Nooooo!"   

Today I was thinking about that moment and a line came to mind from something that I'd read from author Joe Hill: 

Sometimes you dream a dream that fills you to the brim with happiness—a dream that satisfies your most private yearnings—and waking from it all but breaks your heart. 

There have been times in my life when I would have given anything to trade my conscious reality for a dream where I was filled with joy and happiness.  Maybe you've been there, too. 

Here's a hard truth:  As lovely and heartwarming as it is to dream vivid, joy-filled dreams where your deepest yearnings are fulfilled, your happiness overflows and you never want to leave...  you always wake up. 

So your options are to try to live in your waking reality with a sense of hope, optimism, joy, and peace, or to walk around filled with sorrow because what you hoped was real was only a dream.  

Far too many of us choose the latter, and in so doing we consign ourselves to a waking reality that will never measure up to our dreams, no matter how hard we try to make it so.  

A friend once shared a song with me that she listens to when she needs some perspective on what it means to get the most out of her day, even in the moments when it doesn't bring the same joy as her dreams. 

The song is entitled The Best Day by the hip-hop duo Atmosphere, and here's a sample: 

Can't dance with an upset stomach

The overdraft notices just kept coming

Somebody broke into the porch and stole a chair

Top of your head stopped growing hair

Broken glass, computer crashed

The car won't start and the tires went flat

Dog got loose, brought back a dead cat

Daughter found it and had a panic attack...

And then there's this line from the chorus: 

Every day can't be the best day

Do what you can right now, don't hesitate... 

"Every day can't be the best day" is one of the more profound pieces of wisdom I've ever heard.  It speaks directly to the notion that our dream life is better than our waking life, which it isn't---it's just different. 

Some days you are just going to be sad... or filled with loss... or bad things are going to happen to you.  "Every day can't be the best day" is a liberating notion in itself but even more so in relation to our own sense of joy and overall purpose. 

You see, God is with us in all of our comings and goings... in our slumber and our wakefulness.  On our best days and those days that aren't our best days.  

And when we can internalize this truth, it will give us even more understanding of the loving, patient, grace-filled heart of God that yearns for and reaches for us every day, always.  

May this be true for you, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.