Art vs. Living

After I finished up my post for yesterday I began to worry. I worried that my faithful readers (Hi, Mom) would mistake my little one day novel as a pattern for living. It's a grand thing to invest some extra time and effort into an event large or small, but a day like my perfect Summer Sunday is a piece of art. Art for all its many glories is stale life. Trying to make all of your life into a piece of art will result in a distinct lack of living. Summer Sundays are meant to be a mixed bag. You need some sour and grim added into the mix. If all your summer Sundays are as perfect, planned and pleasant as the one I describe, then you are missing out on your own life.
Don't be afraid of the dark days and the arguments and the rainy disappointments that can even enter into our perfectly planned days. Embrace the unexpectedly or predictably unpleasant because those sharp tastes enrich your overall enjoyment of living. If you didn't know how terrible life can be, you wouldn't know to throw your soul wide open to the sweet when it came. My friend just reminded me of Browning's old poem Rabbi Ben Ezra. He's right; it's important to remember that the God who makes perfect days sends the disasters too. The God who gives us youth also gives us old age, and we must remember that all of His gifts are good.
So, enjoy the Summer Sunday, but don't substitute or mistake it for life. Life is much more flavorful and rich.