Today is a Great Day
Today is a Great Day
Les Parrott, professor of psychology at Seattle Pacific University, offered three key markers to mental health. The first two are having a sense of meaning and purpose and a capacity for personal responsibility.
Parrott’s third marker particularly challenged me, though:
“A person must be willing to be happy in the present.”
He defined psychological health as a sense of well-being and a willingness to be involved in the process. He then quoted Abraham Maslow: “Some people spend their entire lives indefinitely preparing to live.”1
Some of us are spending our lives preparing for life. We’re waiting for someday or for when this dream comes true . . . that business gets started . . . my kids graduate from college . . . I pay off my debts . . . I retire.
“We must show up in the present and be thankful for this moment.
That’s now. Today. This very moment.”
Bob Wieland was a big part of an effort early in my ministry to bring a message of faith, values, and success to young people. Bob was a strapping six-two athlete on his way toward a promising career in major league baseball when he was drafted in to the army. On his second day in Vietnam, he stepped on a land mine while trying to save a fellow soldier. Bob’s legs went one direction, his body another.
When I met Bob, he stood just two feet ten inches tall. But he was a huge man.
I was with him in Milwaukee as we prepared to speak to hundreds of young people at his former high school. We stood on the field where he played baseball, which is now named Bob Wieland field. His message that despite the obstacles and challenges life may present, you can always find a way to win.
In the weeks and months after Bob lost his legs, he battled severe depression and a desire to commit suicide. But through faith in God, Bob found an overwhelming sense of purpose. In time, Bob became a strong advocate for physical fitness and broke various weightlifting records, including the world record for the bench press.
He served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. He completed the New York, Los Angeles, and Marine Corps marathons and became the strength and motivational coach for the Green Bay Packers. Bob has received many accolades and was named “The Most Courageous Man in America” by the NFL Players Association in 1996.2
Perhaps his most significant was championing the Walk for Hunger organization by walking across America—on his hands. Bob propels himself by lifting and pushing his body forward with his powerful arms. On September 8, 1982, in Orange County, California, Bob began this three-year, eight-month, six-day odyssey of walking almost 2,800 miles across the country. He relied on hand grips that acted as shoes, creams to soothe his blistering skin, and leather chaps that covered his seat and what is left of his legs.
Averaging a pace of three to five miles a day, Bob successfully completed his goal at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, on May 14, 1986. Greeted by a mass of media, loyal supporters, and Vietnam veterans, he placed a wreath by the name of the man he was trying to save when he lost his legs.3
President Ronald Reagan welcomed Bob into the Oval Office before he completed his final mile. Bob told me what he asked the nation’s leader:
“Mr. President, when was the last time someone walked 4,900,016 steps on his hands just to say hello to you?”
Bob has often said that his greatest triumph was not being welcomed by his fellow veterans or even the president of the United States but that “the joy was in the journey.” Although I’ve heard this statement many times over the years, it has special meaning whenever I hear it from Bob.
We are, all of us, creating a future that does not presently exist. Yet even as we look ahead, we must not forget the need to be full of gratitude, joy, and love right now.
Want more. But be content.
Tomorrow, expect something better. But today is a great day.
How do you practice gratitude even while wanting and planning for more? Drop a comment and tell us about it.
1Les Parrott III, Counseling and Psychotherapy, 2nd ed. (Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson/Brooks/Cole, 2002), X.
3Dave Skidmore, “Double Amputee Completes Cross-Country Odyssey,” May 14, 1986, AP News, https://apnews.com/article/a1675fac4bc7b63d9d95140611fe5521
Adapted from Live Ten (Thomas Nelson) by Terry A. Smith. All rights reserved.
Ministry Leaders: Today is a great day to share the message of hospitality with your people. Check out this FREEHospitable Leader Sermon Series download kit, where you’ll find everything you need to plan, host, and deliver a sermon series that emphasizes hospitable leadership.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash