I went to the grocery store a few days back, irritated that I had to make the trip in the first place. Stepping out of my car and dashing between drops of threatening rain, I heard a boy – probably about six years old – yelling at the top of his lungs:
“This is my greatest day, ever!!! Isn’t this my greatest day ever?!?!”
His mom said, “Yes, sweetie, it’s pretty great.”
I smiled and moved through the parking lot toward the front doors. Just a few steps before entering, I spotted a dad and his young daughter who had obviously witnessed the same. She said “Is this my greatest day ever, Dad?” He smiled and said, “It sure could be.”
I laughed out loud. And my less-than-stellar attitude changed dramatically.
This is the nature of enthusiasm, of glee, of happiness, of praise. It’s contagious. It’s viral. It will not, cannot be slowed, contained, or stopped.
Can you, will you imagine that the Divine expresses such unbridled enthusiasm, glee, happiness, and praise over you?
Go ahead. Imagine it. I’ll wait for you . . .
What might change? How might you act, respond, feel, speak, be? What if, even for a moment, you could allow this to be true?
Psssst: it is true!
The Divine sees and shouts, sings, whispers – endlessly and infinitely: “This is my greatest creation, ever!!! Isn’t this my greatest creation, ever?!?”
When you believe and live like it’s true, others can’t help but say the same: “Could I be the Divine’s greatest creation ever?!? Could I?!?”
And like a flash-mob, more and more people will see, hear, wonder, ask, act, and dance. Everything will change.
*****
As I look around at the world: Sandy Hook Elementary School, the NRAs response,
bi-partisan politics, the painful and recently-personal effects of patriarchy, the ongoing reality of sexual trafficking, and so much more, I long for something, anything to change.
We need a viral, contagious belief in my own goodness and that of others. We need a viral, contagious belief in the Divine’s determined and passionate heart our my behalf. We need to be able to stand in the middle of a parking lot and yell, “This is the greatest day ever!”
May it be so.