Wendy Ball is my friend from Edinburgh. She loves lime milkshakes and she lives and breathes vivacity and wisdom. We met for lunch the other day when she was in SA, and she inspired me to redefine a ‘good day’.

I’m incurably task-oriented – a ticker-off of to-do lists. I am totally energised by the cathartic experience of a fantastically good day in which I have been able to get stuff done. My biggest frustration as a mom – the thing that far outweighs sleepless nights and projectile vomit – is that I can no longer tick as many things off the list as I used to. Hence, less catharsis; less of the thrill and satisfaction of various jobs well done.

But maybe a good day isn’t about my measureable achievements. Maybe 2012 won’t be a good year because I accomplish a bunch of essential / non-essential stuff. The mantra that life is all about relationships – with God and people – gets batted about an awful lot. If it’s really true – I mean, if our most significant contribution to civilization in the eight or nine decades we spend here on the pale blue dot is what we bring to the lives of others – then shouldn’t my definition of what constitutes a good day be less about my list and more about the people that I came across in the time it took for the earth to spin once on its axis?

But wow. I do so love my ducks to be in a row. (And swimming in the same direction. In single file.) So this is going to be difficult for me. But I want to pray that Jesus would help me to see my days as he might. Even if it means that on some days it’s ok just to know that my ducks are all somewhere in the pond area. Kind of.

So, as I trust God to order my world and to bring across the tidy lines and the blank margins of each day whomever he chooses, I’m going to ask myself these kinds of questions:

Who did God add into the mix of my day?

As far as it depended on me, was every conversation good? Was there life in the connections?

Was I the YES to someone’s question, ‘Is Jesus for real?’

Even if today was seriously lousy, did I catch glimpses of God?

A haiku prayer for 2012

You are inside and

Outside time at the same time.

I give you this year.

 Comments?

What’s your definition of a good day?