Serving the High Plains

Take time to remember God’s greatest gift

Religion Columnist

I was struggling for a topic for today’s article. So, I just did a Google search for the date, June . The top hit, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=June_24), showed that June 24 seemed historically a day like any other with births, deaths, and other significant events all of which are important to the contributors and those with similar interests. But nothing really jumped out at me for an article topic.

Then, I thought about Fathers’ Day, which fell on June 21 this year. I didn’t look up that date to find its significance because, again, it would be a day like any other day to most people with notable historical events including births and deaths and because I could already attach significance to it in addition to it being Fathers’ Day.

First of all, June 21 is one of my brothers’ birthday, but that’s probably not very important to most people. According to my brother, who lived in Alaska for several years, June 21st is unofficially known as Alaska National Holiday because it’s the peak of their 6 months of daylight with only 2 hours and 11 minutes of darkness; the shortest day is December 21 with only three hours and 41 minutes of daylight, if it’s not overcast, and I understand that’s a pretty dismal time of year (http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/fairbanks). I couldn’t find anything online about Alaska National Holiday. June 21 is also officially the first day of summer, although we’ve already been celebrating summer since school was out.

This year, as I already mentioned, Fathers’ Day also fell on June 21. And as I thought about Fathers’ Day, which always falls on a Sunday and seems to take a seat at the back of the bus compared to Mothers’ Day (I’m not having a pity party because my children always made almost as big a deal out of Fathers’ Day as they did Mothers’ Day), it occurred to me that most Sundays are a day just like any other to most people. And God, who is our Heavenly Father, is treated with less respect than our earthly fathers.

Fact is, although everything belongs to God, including our time 24/7, he often takes a backseat to other activities he created for us to enjoy when properly used (Psalm 24:1; James 1:17; 1 Timothy 4:4-5; Romans 14:5-8). Most people won’t even give up a couple of hours on Sunday to remember the God’s greatest gift (John 3:16-17; Mark 10:45; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 20:7). That’s too bad because they’ll miss out on enjoying this life and the life to come (John 10:10).

God gives us every good gift, including life and breath, so we can know who he is and enjoy life as we glorify him appropriately – that’s significant (Acts 17:24-28; Ecclesiastes 3:10-14; 8:12-13; 12:13-14; 2:24-26). When we honor him appropriately, every day becomes a special day we can celebrate (Psalm 118:24). So, no matter the date or the day of the week (Sunday through Saturday), it can be Funday.

Are you celebrating God great gifts daily?