A Prayer to Rejoice and Be Glad on This Day - Your Daily Prayer - October 7

A Prayer to Rejoice and Be Glad on This Day
By: Whitney Hopler

Bible Reading:
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24, ESV 

Listen or Read Below:

The beauty of fall colors is both breathtaking and brief. We look outside and see the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows of fall leaves, and we feel inspired when we’re enjoying the sight of them. But we also know the truth: those same leaves will soon dry up and fall to the ground. Their beauty doesn’t last forever. The colorful fall foliage season is fleeting, and if we don’t pay attention, we might miss the chance to enjoy it. 

The opportunities God gives us to enjoy each day are also temporary. Time keeps moving, and each day comes and goes only once. If we aren’t making the most of our time, we may let those opportunities slip by. Every single day is a gift from God. God makes each day with good purposes, and he places us in it to rejoice and be glad by fully embracing the opportunities it brings us. 

But how often do we forget this? We rush through our schedules, get caught up in stress, or focus on disappointments. Our thoughts drift toward what went wrong yesterday or what might go wrong tomorrow. Meanwhile, the gift of today quietly slips through our fingers. It’s like standing under a tree during the season of peak fall colors and never once looking up to enjoy the wonder that’s around us. 

The Bible tells us to rejoice in this day. Not yesterday, which is already gone. Not tomorrow, which hasn’t come yet. God wants us to enjoy this day we’re living right now. 

Our days won’t all be easy. Many days in our fallen world bring challenging circumstances into our lives. We may not feel glad. But God’s call to rejoice and be glad doesn’t depend on our circumstances. It depends on our relationships with him. God made this day, and he is with us in it. God’s presence with us throughout each day is enough reason to be glad. 

The beauty of fall leaves is precious because it doesn’t last forever. In the same way, today is precious because it won’t come again. We can’t repeat it, and we can’t hold onto it once it passes. This truth can inspire us to pay closer attention to all the opportunities God gives us to feel glad. We can start to notice and celebrate by sharing a meal with our friends and families, laughing with our children, watching a sunset, or just enjoying listening to music. Everything we enjoy is a reason to thank God and celebrate! 

We can feel glad even when we feel pain at the same time. When we’re going through challenging situations, remembering that our good God is still with us helps us notice the good that God brings into each day. We can choose not to waste today’s blessings just because they’re mixed in with painful circumstances. The more we look for God’s goodness, the more we can find it and appreciate it. 

Every day we wake up is another opportunity from God to enjoy our lives. When we practice rejoicing today, we can build lives that are full of gladness every day. We can become people who live fully each day God gives us. 

Let’s pay attention to the wonder of God’s work in our lives every day so we don’t miss everything God wants us to enjoy today. When we do so, we’ll find plenty of blessings from God to celebrate before the next day comes! 

Let’s Pray:

Dear God,

Thank you for making this day and giving it to me. I confess that I often rush past everyday blessings from you without noticing them. I get so caught up in my busyness or my worries that I forget to rejoice in you. Forgive me for the times I’ve wasted today by letting stress or fear take control. Please help me to see each day as the gift that it truly is. Teach me to pay close attention and notice the blessings you place in front of me every day. Open my eyes to the opportunities to love, to serve, to laugh, and to give thanks. Just like the fall leaves turn colors for only a short season, my time here is limited, and that makes each day precious. Show me how to feel glad even when my life is difficult. Help me to trust that you are with me throughout every day and that your presence is my reason to be glad. I don’t want to cling to yesterday or worry about tomorrow, but to live fully today. I choose to rejoice and be glad right now, because you are good and faithfully do wonderful work in my life.

Thank you, God!

Amen.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/yuriz 

Whitney Hopler helps people discover God's wonder and experience awe. She is the author of several books, including the nonfiction books Wake Up to Wonder and Wonder Through the Year: A Daily Devotional for Every Year, and the young adult novel Dream Factory. Whitney has served as an editor at leading media organizations, including Crosswalk.com, The Salvation Army USA’s national publications, and Dotdash.com (where she produced a popular channel on angels and miracles). She currently leads the communications work at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Connect with Whitney on her website at www.whitneyhopler.com and on her Facebook author page.

Related Resource: Advent Meditations

This Advent season can be full and hurried, which is exactly why we need moments to pause and be still with God. So Much More is a podcast created to bring you space to be with God. In this short, guided prayer, you’ll return to Psalm 62:5–8, the passage from this week’s meditation on hope. Together, we’ll breathe deeply, rest in God’s presence, and ask Him to renew our hope—trusting that the One who came once will come again. If you like what you hear, subscribe to So Much More on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

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