February 15 - An ordinary day

Each day is an ordinary day to most.

But every day has a meaning to someone...a date on the calendar that can trigger a remembrance of happiness...regret.... or perhaps heartache.

While others are immersed in their day, someone quietly may have flashbacks connected with that date.

February 15 is one of those warm fuzzy 'trigger' days for me as I recall years of birthday celebrations for my Dad. If he were still with us he'd be 92 today! Though it's been 14 years since he left us, his positive influence is an integral part of me. He engrained his mark indelibly within me and so in many ways he has never left.

It's amazing to me how deeply those closest to us affect us, positively or negatively. We often don't see in ourselves the reflection of those who have influenced us until we find ourselves acting out what we have absorbed like a sponge over the years.

After all these years I've lived, I still battle a lot of negative stuff that was sponged in as a child and I find it oozing out when I least expect it. The cool thing, much to my relief, is that my abandonment to Christ allows Him to be everything in me that I am not. The key is....abandonment. And it's difficult in those moments that I just don't want to fight the crappy stuff that seems to rise up naturally within me. It's easier to just 'be me'. It's at those times I have to decide what matters most to me - whether to 'abandon' and let Christ's character be everything in that moment, or just go with the flow and perhaps drag someone down with me. "The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (The Bible, Matthew 6:21)

I love that we are not doomed to be failures from the negative stuff we've sponged in over the years, no matter how bad. No one is excluded from the freedom Christ will provide moment by moment as we abandon each struggle to Him.

I am so grateful to my Dad that in the midst of negativity, he planted positive in me. He was deeply committed to prayer and simply lived like Christ day in and day out, genuine - not perfect - but abandoned. He is now in a place where calendars and time have no meaning. But because I must live by a calendar I will continue on February 15th to say with fond memories, 'Happy Birthday Dad. Thank you!! I love you!'

"What actually took place is this: I tried
keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I
quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me
how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I
have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer
important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am
no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living
is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. I am not going to go back on that."

The Bible, Message Version - Galatians 2:19-21