How Do You Greet You Day?

This year I missed the National Career Development Association Global Conference that was held earlier this week in Boston. I have always enjoyed that conference as there are so many informative and practical sessions on various aspects of careers. Instead this July I am focusing on preparing for my first Colloquial for my Capella University PhD program. Yet knowing the conference was going on my thoughts through the week turned to career thoughts.

Those career thoughts connected with a song I was listening to on Amy Grant’s lastest CD. Her new cd is How Mercy Looks From Here. It is full of powerful lyrics to think through and beautiful melodies to enjoy. The song that caught my attention was Greet the Day. The song made me think through “How do I greet my days?” I thought of many work days in the past and to be honest my worst days usually started off with a negative mental attitude. My best days were when I started off with a positive mental attitude. Look over the words to the song. As usual if you click on the song title it will take you to a video where you can actually listen to the song which I believe allows you to gain more insight into the lyrics.


Greet the Day by Amy Grant and Cindy Morgan

Lead me to the ones I need, And to the one who's needing me.
I won't assume the worst is true,, And do the best that I can do.
A word of kindness, I believe,, Is heard throughout eternity...
Hey, hey, This is how I greet the day,, I greet the day...
Lead me to the ones I need, And to the one who's needing me
And everything that gets me through.
Gladly I’ll receive from you.
All the mercy , all the love. Pouring down to fill us up…
Hey, hey, This is how I greet the day,
I greet the day,
Hello sunshine, Hello rain, Glad to see you either way.
Hey, Hey, This is how I greet the day
Come on, greet the day, let’s greet the day.
Hello sunshine, hello rain, hello every single day.
Lead me to the ones I need, And to the one who's needing me.
I won't assume the worst is true, And do the best that I can do.
If you listened to the actual song you can first see how the cheerful melody captures the spirit of the song. The song is very bright, lilting and upbeat. A kind of melody that brings a natural smile to the face. That is how to greet the day. You don’t greet the day by pulling the covers over your head. You don’t greet the day by sleeping in and rushing out the door. You don’t greet the day by having a mindset that says, “something is going to go wrong today”. Something already went wrong by you thinking that.
The way to have a positive workday is to have a positive mindset of greeting the day with a smile and “Hello”! Amy Grant adds to the song in the liner notes by sharing the background of the song was based on a prayer she was taught:
“Lord, lead me today to those I need, and to those who need me, and let something I do have eternal significance.” What a powerful way to start the day!

Starting our day is not about just rushing out the door to find a cup of coffee to hold onto at work. It is not about assuming the worst concerning the guy who is travelling too slow on the highway. It is not about assuming the worst of our co-workers or boss. Starting the day is to take a few minutes to breathe up a prayer seeking God’s guidance to touch lives and to make a difference. How can you better serve the people who come into your path each day so they can learn to “greet the day” should be on our mind at the start of the day.

The phrase that states, “Gladly I’ll receive from you. All the mercy , all the love. Pouring down to fill us up…” is another prayer reminder. We start each day needing a new filling of mercy and love for people from God so that we can do our best in our people interactions through the work day. It is those people interactions that have lasting consequences so they need to be filtered by mercy and love.

Her repetition of “Hello sunshine” and “Hello rain”, reminds me of the verse in Matthew 5:45 “In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” The immediate context is in relation to how we should love those around us even enemies who hate us. We are all faced with good and bad things that happen in our day. I have mentioned Dr. Jim Bright’s Chaos Theory of Careers in the past. We live in a chaotic world. Much of life we do not have control over. The important thing is how we react to the happenings of life. This song is a reminder to greet the good and bad with a “Hello” and do our best with each circumstance we face.

Reflection: How do you face your days whether you are working or not? Do you take time to spiritually meditate on the day ahead? How can you improve on “Greeting your day”?