OPENING Day

I stood at the bakery counter and considered my options. Cupcakes, cookies, and éclairs stuffed with luscious crème filling all paraded their wares before me, but it was the fudge-covered brownies calling my name that I eventually responded to. Decorated with red and white frosting stripes and a baseball pick set in the middle of each, they were as cute to look at as surely delightful to eat. Into the carton they went, and I drove home thinking about the joy they would add to my husband’s celebration of the start of baseball season. 

In a conversation with a customer the next day I mentioned that Opening Day was my husband’s second favorite day of the year, naturally leading him to then ask which was his first. A passion for fireworks made the Fourth of July his obvious choice, I explained.

“Oh,” he said. “I would have thought it was the anniversary of the day he was married to you!”

His answer made me laugh and I promised to go home and have a talk with the guy who was now in serious trouble, having put both baseball and pyrotechnics ahead of the wife who was supposed to be the love of his life!

My husband’s joy over the start of this new season is contagious. Long months of waiting and anticipation precede it, but when Opening Day finally arrives he relishes every moment of it, usually taking the day off from work so he can watch everything from the first pitch in our local team’s game to the last out in the third or fourth game that’s broadcast on the tube. He simply has a party in his heart from morning til midnight on that all-important beginning of baseball season.

My customer’s comment above reminded me of Opening Day of my marriage, and I smiled to think of how similar it was to that of my husband’s beloved sport. There were long months of planning and preparation ahead of time, but when the time finally came we savored every detail of the day itself, from the first kiss through the celebratory dinner afterwards. And then we set off on our honeymoon with laughter on our lips and love in our hearts for one another.

Similarly there was an Opening Day in my relationship with God. I was simply caught up in my husband’s excitement over the joy he was experiencing in his spiritual life, and after months of listening and asking questions, my own spiritual experiences up to that point culminated in my opening my heart and officially asking Him to walk right in. What cause for celebration there was in that moment!  The joy and peace of the moment were paraded in the smile on my face as I likewise began a new season, the joy of which begins anew every morning, and which thankfully never comes to an end.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning…”
(Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV)