24 hours ~ 1,440 minutes ~ 86,400 seconds

"every day"

Psalm 145:2

What did you do yesterday?  How about the day before?  And what about every day last week?

We recently inherited a piano, which my kids have been playing frequently ever since we got it.  I know that at some point the newness will wear off, but I am still going to want them to play it ~ to keep practicing what they do know, and learn new things.  Hopefully we'll be able to get them lessons soon, and if we do, I'm pretty sure their teacher will tell them the old standard for learning the piano:  play every day.

Have you ever heard that advice?  From your piano teacher, or your any-other-instrument teacher, or maybe a coach?  It might be the most valuable piece of advice for getting better at something.   And it's so simple.

So it got me to thinking:  what do I do every day?  Anything I do every day, is either going to be because it's that important to me, or because it's automatic and I do it without thinking about it.

For instance:  eating.  Yup.  Every day.  More than once, actually.  I'm guessing your pattern is something similar  ;)  There are two reasons I do this:  one ~ I enjoy it (generally); and two ~ there are unpleasant consequences if I don't.  (As Winnie the Pooh would say, "I get rumbly in my tumbly.")

Another thing I do every day is pray.  This is more of an automatic, I think.  I've been praying so long, and God has been a part of my life for so long, that it's a relationship, and to go all day without talking to Him would be as odd as going all day without talking to my Amazing, Awesome kids, or the Apple of my Eye.   So it might not always be sitting at His feet, pondering deep and meaningful subjects, but I do pray every day.

I also watch tv every day.  I generally turn it on for a few minutes in the morning, to help me wake up.  And I almost always watch a little news (well, politics, really.  News is depressing.) or a little sports or a little cooking and then maybe a sitcom here and there or a movie with the family.  Some days not much, other days a few hours worth, but something every day.

And I'm on the computer every day.  Emailing, looking up stuff on the internet a little bit.  And, of course, blogging.  {Hi!}

And sleep.  I do that every day.  But other than those things, I can't think of anything that I do every day.   That realization sort of surprised me.  There are a lot of things that are important to me, like reading and studying the Bible, pleasure reading, exercising, and relaxing in the porch swing, that I don't do every day.  Some days I just seem to run out of time, even for those things I'd call "important".   Not important enough, I guess.  If something is important enough, we find time, we find a way to remember, we find a reason...

My mom always used to say that when someone says they can't afford something, what they really mean is, they choose not to afford it.  That if they really wanted it, they'd find a way to pay for it.  I think it's the same thing with time.   If you or I "don't have time" for something, it's because we choose not to have the time to do it.

Take a good look at what you do every day.  How important are the things you are doing?  And how important are the things you're not doing?

~ "Every day I will bless you, 

and I will praise Your name

forever and ever." ~

Psalm 145:2