“Happy Day!” (09/22/2026)

She’s an unforgettable woman who has touched my life in so many ways. And this week, she did it again. She shared with me that she’s sworn off the traditional “good morning” or even “hello” that we all know is usually dismissed as soon as it hits the air. Instead, she is greeting others with “Happy Day!” and a smile that conveys that she means every syllable. And she’s noticed that people actually look at her and smile. And that smile tells her that her prayer for the other registered.

I loved her creativity, her persistence in finding a way to “get through” our societal walls and fog, and her reason for doing it, that sense of connection with the others, that sense of tending to the others we encounter along the way. And it makes me wonder, how could the world be different if we all tried to find ways to do just that – to lovingly and kindly encounter others along the way.

It is a cause I hope that more and more of us find an interest in these days. Social media and electronics have robbed us in many ways of the real human need for connection – for relationship. As I always tell my students, it’s all about relationships. We are created in relationship for relationships. But relationships require encounter.

As we continue our journeys in faith, buoyed by the Hope of the One who is Trustworthy in all things, may we allow the love the LORD showers upon us to flow through us and beyond. May our days be marked by multiple encounters with others on “the Way” giving encouragement and walking just a bit of the way with them. Let us always remember that the LORD calls us to relationship with Him but also to relationship with one another – the kind we ourselves with to be in. May we find ourselves uttering, “Happy Day!” (realizing that in the scriptures like the beatitudes, the word Makarios translates to “happy” but also “blessed”).

Marcia, thanks for being the awesome daughter of God that you are! And thanks for sharing your new approach to bringing joy wherever you go.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.