Sunday, None Too Soon

When God orders your calendar

A Wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins…nor is he early. He arrives exactly when he means to…

Ever since the middle of May, after three separate hospitalizations; and one more in June, for good measure, the days of the week have become a source of confusion. In the hospital, there was never any question. Eacb day a nurse would approach the dry erase board in my room, and dutifully record the day and date. I knew exactly where I was and what day was coming next.

Of course, the knowledge of day and date had its limitations. The days seemed to last forever. They further slowed when all I could do was wait on lab results to appaer, or when I could only watch and wait for IV medication to take effect. Watching paint dry would have been more stimulating.

But at discharge, a funny thing happened on the way out of the hospital. The white board vanished from my sight and mind. Arriving home, I soon found myself having a Groundhog Day experience. The specific nature of my confusion centered on the day of the week. For reasons I have yet to fathom, I was convinced that it was a Saturday. And not only then, but for days on end. It just had to be a Saturday. I knew it. And I was trying to gear myself up for Sunday, and whatever responsibilities I had.

Once again this past week. It was Saturday; only it was Tuesday. It was Saturday; only it was Thursday. My focus this week was sermon preparation for June 18, and I found myself mentally hurdling toward Sunday, only to be pulled up short. It wasn’t Saturday, and no amount of mental gymnastics could make it otherwise.

Sunday will not be rushed. It will arrive as it always does, with six days intervening. And I was reminded that those intervening days are there for a reason. Regardless of my sermon preparation, I’m not ready for Sunday on Friday, nor on Saturday. God brings Sunday as an ordered event with the participation of God’s people, the preaching of God’s word, and, where applicable, the observance of the sacraments.

That means that the intervening days are assigned to waiting, praying, and going about daily life with patience and persistence, “making the most of each day”. Sunday will come. Sunday always comes, and when it does, it will bear the fruit God has intended for it - renewed faith, commitments made, forgiveness experienced, and grace and peace replacing sin and despair.

Tomorrow is Sunday. It is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.