Every day is a good day

The Japanese phrase nichinichi kore koujitsu is a Zen expression that is commonly used in context of the Tea Ceremony. It encourages us to understand that every day can be made a good day and that it is up to us to make each day good.

"Every day is a good day" is a quote from a Zen koan, spoken by Zen Master Yun Men, who lived and taught in 10th century China. It is found in one of the most influential classics of Zen literature, The Blue Cliff Record, a compilation of the sayings of many generations of Zen Masters and practitioners.

According to Jeff Brooks to have the conviction that every day is a good day means that we are really living our own lives. If we discriminate based on our own feelings of happiness or unhappiness and say: "I wonder if today will be good," or "Today I am happy so it is a good day," or "Today I am unhappy so today is a bad day," or "If something nice happens to me today I will have the opinion that today is a good day," then we lose our lives. That kind of attitude means we are living passively, as if life is just something that happens to us. If we live this way we have given up the direction of our own lives and we will inevitably decline.

To understand that every day is a good day takes courage, because on some days we will suffer. Then, when that is necessary, when that is the reality of our lives, it is our day to suffer. That reality shifts, as we all have experienced, from day to day, even from moment to moment. It shifts as a result of our intention, as a result of our karma. Some days we will be happy. Then it will be a good day to be happy. Some days we will have to struggle. Then it will be a good day to struggle. Some day we will need to fight. Then it will be a good day to fight. Some day it will be our day to die. Then, as Black Elk said, it will be a good day to die.

http://dropbox.lakeshorechurch.org/Multimedia%20Team/Song%20slides/Small%20Background%20Images/every_day_is_a_good_day_title.jpg

Everyday is a good day to give thanks unto the lord for all he's done for us for he has done great things for us, how we love him for what he's done. Enjoy the little things in life, for someday you will look back and realize they were the big things.