This is the day that the Lord has made

“We’ve got to tell everybody, we’ve got to remind them how good it is. People have forgotten what life is all about; they have forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded, they need to be reminded about what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life.”

This line comes from the 1990 film Awakenings, starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams, which tells the true story of a man named Leonard Lowe who suffered from encephalitis lethargica and lived in a catatonic state for decades. Lowe (DeNiro) and several other patients were awakened temporarily by Dr. Malcolm Sayers (Williams). Sayers experimentally administered a drug given to those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Seeing what he had to lose gave Lowe a different perspective on life, and the movie shows nearly all of the patients either desiring to live what life they had been given to the fullest or being consumed by self-pity.

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 ESV) It’s easy to forget that each day we are given should be considered a blessing. There’s a myriad of things that we take for granted until the chance of losing them presents itself. It may sound pessimistic, but God wants us to live as if tomorrow is uncertain and the day is a gift. It’s difficult to see with that perspective, especially in the morning, but perhaps some coffee and a reminder from Psalms will help out.