This is Felicia Ferguson with Christian Mix 106, helping you build faith for the journey.
When I was a speech language pathologist, I worked in skilled nursing facilities for a few years of my practice. One of the goals most often seen on a treatment plan was patient will be oriented to self, place, and time. Orientation to self is simply knowing their name—easy enough unless the patient was in the later stages of dementia. Place is knowing where the patient’s room, dining, and activities were located. But a goal for being oriented to time always made me shudder. Orientation to time is knowing the date, day, and time of day.
I, like most people, rely on a calendar to tell me the date and day of the week. My schedule tells me where I need to be, when I need to be there, and why. If I don’t have these outside supports, can I remember my schedule? Or even the day of the week? Nope.
So, if I have difficulty remembering what day of the week it is, how could I in all fairness hold accountable these men and women who lived in a facility with no obvious daily changes to knowing a day and date? I quickly learned to focus on their real needs and helped them enjoy each day just as it came. In doing this, I never realized I was actually following the biblical principle: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
What about you? I know it’s difficult to take each day as it comes. Between work and kids’ activities, almost everyone is tied to a schedule. Our futures are often mapped out for weeks, if not months at a time. Such a protracted schedule can lead us to focus on the coming days rather than simply enjoying the day we have.
But what if you could just take a moment every morning as you’re waking up to decide to enjoy this one day God made and rejoice that it’s another day you get here on earth? How do you think your mindset might change? Would you feel a bit more peace? Be a bit more grateful? Give it a try tomorrow morning and see what happens. Who knows, you just might have a whole different orientation on your day.
This is Felicia Ferguson, thanks for listening to Christian Mix 106.