Hey everybody,
I'm grateful to share a Wednesday night insight with you and if there's a title for my message tonight it is an awfully beautiful day.
Have you ever had an awfully beautiful day?
And looking back at my life I have one from I think it was in 2012 and I got to do a wedding in a place called Valley Center California and I envisioned a beautiful valley and some flat plains and I don't think they have a valley there.
It was a desert mountainous region and I as a minister have never been known for my flashy cars.
Let's say that my car has always had a bit of character and I'm driving my 2005 black Hyundai Elantra stick shift into this mountainous desert place in the middle of nowhere.
You know we think of California as this overpopulated place.
We need to remember it's a desert and some of it is kind of ravenous.
So I'm on my way to this wedding facility not expecting the twist and turns in the past that I'm on and my clutch goes out.
However something awfully beautiful happens.
I literally roll into the sign of the wedding venue and I'm so grateful to arrive there and let's just say it's a little embarrassing to see the bride and groom pull in and to see me pushing my car.
Luckily I didn't damage the sign of the venue and so I call my girlfriend at the time April who is so kind to get a babysitter for her son Gavin and to drive the two hours to Valley Center to come and pick me up.
In the meantime I do the wedding and when I perform marriage vows I just curdle at that term till death to you part.
I like to say something like do you take this person to be your wife or husband to love and to cherish to have and to hold from this day forward and every day again anew.
And what a wonderful vow perhaps to say to life each day.
I take you life to love and to cherish to have and to hold from this day forward and every day again anew.
Marriage just like life isn't a one-time choice it's an everyday choice and so even when things are going awful on a particular day can we choose our commitment to life to extract that beauty to extract that connection.
So the wedding's over and April arrives in her Nissan Murano and she's waiting for me to come out and she's turned off the car and we get in I go feel glad that's over with I'm gonna have to call a tow truck to get my car and who knows how many thousands of dollars in the middle of nowhere it's gonna cost to repair the clutch on the thing and April's car won't start.
All of a sudden we're stuck there and so I've got to call another tow truck and I have to do that incredibly adult thing that we love to do is I have to call my mom and dad to come and pick us up and they're so kind and they get on the road and the tow truck comes and you know gets the cars away and we're waiting for mom and dad and I say dad whatever you do don't turn off your car we're in the Bermuda car triangle here in Valley Center and I'll always remember that they picked me up and I had to speak at my center the next morning and it was very stressful but at some point we just all started laughing in the car and we stopped and we ate and we had some in-and-out and it was a wonderful wonderful time on an awful awful day.
Have you ever had a beautifully awful day?
And a few tips on how to make sure that even on those bad days that you are able to mine the gold.
The first is to remember what the great Centers for Spiritual Living minister David Bruner says.
He says things can go wrong but I can't go wrong.
Recognize that some shit ain't gonna work out on a particular day.
The challenges are gonna take place.
That mistakes are going to be made.
However,
We can always maintain our composure.
We can always maintain our composure.
It was embarrassing for that husband and wife to see me pushing my car.
It would have been different if they saw me kicking the bumper,
Right?
You can always maintain that ability to recognize I may not be in control of this situation but I have the choice about how I show up.
Second,
Like I was saying,
Remember your commitment to life.
Yes,
I'm going to struggle.
Yes,
Not great things are going to happen but if I'm really committed to life,
It's a relationship where we're seeking to make the best of our experiences no matter what.
And I've learned in my life,
And I bet you have too,
That no matter how much the suffering,
No matter how deep the grief,
No matter how profound the loss,
There is always the opportunity for moments of joy,
For moments of resilience,
For moments of even resistance to the difficult things that happen in our lives,
That we can retort and respond and fight back with a sense of joy and purpose.
Lastly,
It's to always remember the love that's behind the scenes.
Even on this awful day,
I got to have meaningful experiences with people I will love forever.
And so,
I invite you the next time you say,
This day is awful,
To get a little excited,
To pause and say,
I have an opportunity here to mine some gold in spite of what the challenge is.
This day isn't a reflection of who I am,
It is an opportunity for me to demonstrate the very best of who I am.
And worse comes to worse,
You have a great story.
