The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Life!

August 21, 2010

Each day we receive is a gift from God

Keeping the Faith column

By Bev Davis Register-Herald Senior Editor

BECKLEY — Editor’s note: This column by the late Bev Davis originally was published June 9, 2007. Davis passed away Aug. 1, 2010, of a sudden illness. The Register-Herald will continue to publish her previous columns in this space for a while.



On one of those clear, sunny cool days we had a week or so ago, I was walking at my favorite park. A woman dabbing her eyes with a handful of tissues sat slumped forward on a bench.

As I got closer, she turned a tear-stained face my way and offered a faint smile.

“Are you having a bad day?” I asked, hoping for a way to offer some kind of comfort.

“No. It’s not a bad day, but it’s a difficult day,” the older woman said softly. “I’ve lived long enough to realize that every day is a gift, so every day is a good day. Even the difficult days have some of the best lessons to teach us.”

And I was going to comfort her?

She had already inspired me.

I sat down, and we began to chat. My new friend had lost her job at an age when it’s hard to go back out on the job market. The company downsized and saw no need to keep an employee who had given more than 20 years to her work there. She was just two years away from being able to draw a full pension.

She had been widowed five years, and her three adult children were off on their own. She didn’t want to be a burden to them.

While we talked, I realized I had just heard about a job opening for someone with her particular skills. Her face brightened as I mentioned it, and she was eager to inquire about it.

We talked longer, exchanged phone numbers, prayed together and went our separate ways.

A week later, I heard from her. She got the job — at a pay scale much higher and with better medical benefits than her old job afforded.

“I have a confession to make,” she told me after sharing her good news. “That day, I saw you coming from a distance. I didn’t want to talk to anybody, so I had planned just to keep my head down and hoped you’d walk on by and leave me alone. Something made me look up at you, though, and, at first, I wasn’t glad when you sat down.”

“I have a confession, too,” I told her. “I didn’t really want to intrude on someone’s grief, so I was hoping you wouldn’t look up, either. If you hadn’t, I probably would have just said a prayer for you and walked on by.”

We are both women of faith and realized there was a Divine plan at work that day. God motivated her to look up, and He nudged me to sit down. He had already heard her prayers and had a job tailor-made for her. All He had to do was find a way to get the information to her.

I learned two valuable lessons. First, I no longer believe we have any BAD days. We have difficult days that carry with them burdens and blessings. Secondly, I was reminded that all God needs from any of us is our availability and our willingness to move toward another person’s grief or trouble. He’ll do the rest.

Each day truly is a gift from God. Sometimes, He just uses us to unwrap it for someone else.

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