"The world is new to us every morning. This is God's gift; and every man should believe he is reborn each day." So said the holy Baal Shem Tov, a Jewish mystical rabbi and the founder of Hasidic Judaism.
The world is new to us each morning because once again we are free to rejoice in God's Presence, even if God is in hiding. Once again, we've awakened, free to offer our whole hearts for the whole day once more to God, Who is offering another new day of glorious life to us.
"Our heart is the altar," said the holy Baal Shem Tov. " In whatever you do, let a spark of the holy fire burn within you, so that you may fan it into a flame."
How often does an ordinary morning make our hearts burn with joy? Yet the world is new again every morning! Everything is holy! Everything is a blessing! If only we would rejoice at the comfort of our hands cupped around mugs of hot, fragrant coffee or tea, and let our eyes pause to drink in the morning sunlight streaming through our windows. Our ears are blessed - they listen for the sounds of bird calls or the voices of the morning newscast or even the motorcycles rushing by on the street. The beauty of an ordinary day so often escapes us unless we concentrate on every sight, sound, touch, and taste as the God-given gift that it is.
Everything is a blessing! When we're young parents, we savor the sounds and surfaces of children, their busy bodies pressed against ours. The raucous yells of teens heading for the school bus. The tender, hurried goodbye kiss of a spouse, leaving for work or play. The day has re-birthed us to love them all over again as specific, personal gifts of God to us.
Everything is a blessing! When we're old, our silent, contemplative houses are pregnant with the Presence of God in the photos that silently talk to us from the walls. Our aging bodies are arthritic and slow-moving enough that we patiently wait for God's next appearance in a letter or a phone call. Or a slow walk in the woods.
Everything is holy! If we grieve, even our tears are holy, wetting the morning paper like a sacrament. We cry because we've loved and we love and love is a gift, even when the one we love is dead and untouchable. Love cleaves us open, makes us vulnerable so our hearts are open to bandage the wounds of every passer-by. We prayerfully whisper to ourselves over and over, choosing to believe the words:
"The world is new to us every morning. This is God's gift; and every man should believe he is reborn each day." And we know, changed and reborn in grief, that this is bitter-sweet and true. Everything is a blessing. Even our empty hearts that continually search for the ones we've loved and lost. We can burn with joy, knowing they are never lost but eternally cradled in the hands of God.
God sends blessings for us even in the stresses and illnesses of our day. We can praise God and give thanks for the glasses that give us new ability to read; the hearing aids that bring us the wonderful sounds of a concert; the wheelchair that carries us like a magic chariot down the street; the cane or walker that supports our uncertain steps.
Our bodies may fail us, but God does not. God loves us through the intellect of a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner writing a prescription for us, or discussing an upcoming surgery; or the easy conversation and warm hands of the nurse inflating the cuff to take our blood pressure; or the technician's gentle, precise fingers inserting a needle to take our blood. God loves us because, as our bodies fail and move us inexorably to the door of death, He encourages our souls to strengthen and glow ever more brightly as they await our rebirth in eternity.
Mirabai Starr tells us
"The most radiant exemplars of each faith tradition seem to share this common theme: they perceived the extraordinary in the ordinary and celebrated it. The Baal Shem Tov taught that we should dedicate the whole of our lives to serving God with joy. Nothing, he said, is separate from the Holy One. Nature is imbued with the Divine, and creation is an ongoing process, unfolding before our eyes, as well as within us....Song and dance, food and family, nature and each other, are all manifestations of the Sacred, worthy of unending praise."
Nothing - nothing - is separate from the Holy One. Nothing can separate us from the Holy One! St. Patrick knew this. He rejoiced over Christ's Presence and Mercy, praying and praising:
"Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me."
Shouldn't our knowledge of God's radiant Presence in the ordinariness of every day fill us with joy? St. Ignatius tells us "Laugh, and grow strong."
Our trust in God's Presence filling every corner of our day can relieve our fears and anxiety and lead us to say with St. Joan of Arc "I am not afraid. I was born to do this."
No matter what your age is, or if you are surrounded with family or live alone, no matter what the state of your health is - your every day is brimful of the Presence of God, - if you only look with the eyes of your heart. If you find Him, even if He is in hiding, even if your eyes fill with tears, deep in your soul you will find joy.