This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 ESV

Just as I walked up, the front door opened, and one of the staff wheeled my friend out onto the front patio. “Do you want me to bring you further?” the lady asked.

It was one of those rare fall days in Florida, when the humidity has finally fled back to the tropics, and the temps hover in the low seventies. Richard looked out admiring the beauty of the moment and replied “No, I think I’ll just, work my own way along from here.” He answered smiling.

“Hi Richard” I called out, as the nurse turned to go back inside. “Isn’t this a beautiful day?!”

Richard looked up at me smiling, then began quietly singing, “This is the day, this is the day…” Sensing this was something special, I joined in and together we went on, “I will rejoice! I will rejoice and be glad in it and be glad in it!”

When we had finished, Richard looked up into the sky, and with the rock-solid certainty of his faith, said, “One day Jesus is going to come back on those clouds, and every eye will see Him. What a day that will be!”

In the nursing home ministry that I am involved in most days are actually pretty ordinary. A small number of us meet in a dining room, we sing some songs, and talk about a Bible story, but nothing spectacular happens. But there are those moments, when it seems that Jesus cracks open a window, and the sweetness of Heaven’s atmosphere comes to us on a puff of wind. It is as if He is saying, “What you can see here isn’t all there is. The aging, the aches and pains, the loneliness, and the tears one day will be left behind. There is so much more that I have waiting for you. Be patient. Be faithful.”

I am so grateful for my friend Richard and all the others like him. God has put them in my path to remind me of the things that really matter. Though they don’t realize it, God has chosen them as His ambassadors, and if we spend a little time with them, on special days, Jesus will open Heaven’s window and pour His blessing out because, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it!”