The dog days of summer originate with the constellation Big Dog which has the brightest star, Sirius, in the nighttime sky from July 3 to August 11.  It's the time of the summer when the days hold the greatest heat. It's also been observed that dogs, perhaps animals in general, will gather together on hot days and lay unmoving in the shade during high heat. ( source )

Absurdity Day Absurdity in life The Absurdity of Life without God  - I wanted to be fair and offer a link that offered the viewpoint of "absurdity of faith in God" but when I Googled it nothing came up except the article I just linked to and then links about  Absurdism , it's the closest I could find. The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard to Be Happy Beautiful Day Beautiful Day in song ::  U2 , Beach Boys , Michael Buble , Joshua Radin ,  Queen , Jamie Grace , Mozez Wright , DJ Splash ,  Tom Boxer featuring Jay , Thea Gilmore Beautiful Day in words ::  Oh what a beautiful day , Most Beautiful Day ,  Beautiful Day , Another Beautiful Day Universal Children's Day "The one thing all children have in common is their rights. Every child has the right to survive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard. " ( source ) Bright Futures for Every Child, Every Nation Violence A...

Sometimes I just have to be grateful for the day.  Sometimes there's not anything specific about the day that pops out at me so I decide to be grateful for the day.  In Lamentations and Psalms it talks about the new day and I often use both or one of those verses to remind myself that the day, on the whole, is something to be grateful for simply for the fact that God authored it and there are new mercies and compassions to be had.

Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting.  So, get on your way.   Dr. Suess How do you approach your days?  Do you look at what lies before you and want to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over your head?  Or do you look at what lies before you and allow determination to get you out of bed and stare down that mountain?  What if today was your day to conquer the mountain?  What if today was the day the mountain could be scaled?  So throw the covers off, get out of bed, summon your determination, and go take the mountain.  Go get it because  you can !

You know it was a good day if you didn't hit or bite anyone.   Nathanial Parizek, Age 4 Can I get a witness?  :)  Sometimes it's the best we can do in our days, not hit or bite (or in my case pinch) anyone!  Some days we need a little attitude check and then adjustment.  And for the days that we can't get a grip on our attitude I would suggest a stress ball, a glass of wine, a pillow to scream into - to hit - to bite - or to pinch, or whatever will keep you from doing what you are oh so tempted to do.  :)  Again, can I get a witness?

Each day comes with 86,400 seconds. Tick Tock So what will you do with the 86,400 seconds given you today?  How can you best use them?  Where and with whom will they be spent?  Make each second count because you won't, you can't, get them back! 

Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.  Howard Thurman Each day holds , perhaps under its surface, joy and peace.  I disagree with Thur man that it is "or".  I believe it is both.  Some days are tough er than others but each day has be auty in it. Sometimes we might have to dig a little deep for it.  So dig deep. Find it beca use you won't regr et it.  You won't regret the deep dig you might have to do because when you unearth the peace and joy you will find your day improves.  You will find the tensions and stresses are dimin ished in light of the peace and joy that is there.  Joy and peace?  It's there, it really is.  

On with the dance, let joy be unconfined.   Mark Twain To be confined means to be limited or restricted in some way.  It means that you are held up or in bondage (whether that is physical or figuratively).  So to be unconfined is the opposite.  It means we have the ability to be footloose and fancy free.  Twain's advice in today's quote is much deeper than how most may read it on the surface.  Joy cannot, indeed should not, be confined.  It should be allowed to dance throughout our days and our lives, unhindered by circumstances or physical restrictions.  Joy is possible even when the surfaces of our lives indicate it shouldn't be.  Joy is able to transcend the immediate and introduce a dance to get us through.  Joy is something that cannot be fettered, its strength breaks the chains that restrict us.  Some days the dance joy introduces is a waltz, other days it is hip-hop.  The dance of joy in your life will look diffe...

I don't really want more time; I just want enough time. Time to breathe deep and time to see real and time to laugh long, time to give You glory and rest deep and sing joy and just enough time in a day not to feel hounded, pressed, driven, or wild to get it all done-yesterday.   Ann Voskamp Yes.  Voskamp says it perfectly.  It's not necessarily more time that we may want (although we may think so initially), but it's enough time.  Enough time in each 24 hours of a day to breathe deeply, to not feel pressed for more time but just enough time.  Enough time in each 24 hours to feel like I'm not rushed and I've missed deadlines that never existed.  Enough time in each 24 hours to "stop and smell the roses", whatever form that takes for each of us.  Enough time in each 24 hours to be grateful, to look at life and see the beauty in the midst of the busy.  And for me, and maybe you, a believer in God - enough time in each 24 hours to stop and see his ...

Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.   Unknown Only you have a choice about your moments.  You know which ones I'm talking about.  The ones that are standing on the edge and have the potential to fall forward into greatness or crumble in defeat from fear and hesitations.  Only you have the choice to decide what those moments will look like and become.  There are no perfect moments, each one is presented to us for our choice so it is up to you to make it be what you want.   And moments cannot be repeated.  Oh we may come across moments that look similar or feel similar to the one we crumbled on but the moment that we perhaps let get away from us will never be repeated exactly.  So take advantage of moments presented.  Don't let fear keep you on the edge of greatness crumbled in defeat, fall forward in the moment and see what greatness will come from it.

Take time every day to do something silly.   Philips Walker I think today's quote is important to heed for our mental and emotional health.  Not to mention for our relationships. Who wants to be around a sour puss all the time?  Be silly!  Laugh!  Enjoy the simple things life offers!  Be able to let loose and let your guard down for a moment or two.  There are so many silly things, find one and do it. A bestie of mine and I are great at doing silly things together.  About a year ago we decided to create a Facebook page for our imaginary friend, Little Loretta.  We gave her quite the informational page and then we decided to invite our friends to be her friend.  Silly?  Very and it sent us home that night with smiles on our faces and a little lighter in spirit. When was the last time you did something silly?  Has it been awhile?  Do you feel like a sour puss?  Do the people in your life treat you like you are ...

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.    E.E. Cummings What a sad day is one without laughter.  What a waste of a day.  C'mon, lighten up - there is something to laugh about in each day.  Really I promise there is.  Even in the hardest days, the saddest days, the most frustrating days.   I remember when my lifelong best friend, Sarah, passed away and we traveled to Michigan for her memorial.  Another best friend, Emilie, met me in Michigan to be with me and my parents as we said goodbye to Sarah and stood by her family.  It was a tough time.  The day of Sarah's service came and we were standing outside of the sanctuary before going in and we heard the music being  rehearsed    Em and I couldn't help it, we started snickering.  She looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Was this the kind of music Sarah liked?!" and got me snickering some more.  No!  And Sarah herself would have ...

God's plans for your life far exceed the circumstances of your day.   Louie Giglio Gosh, more days than not do I need this reminder!  What is it about *us* that we translate a not-so-good day into our life is ruined?  And more specifically we translate it into our life is without purpose?  We need to quit with the dramatics!  Our days - good or bad - or even seasons of our life - good or bad - do not change what God has planned for each of us.  But what God has planned for us may be different than what's in our head.  What he has planned for us may be what we think it is but it may look different than what we think.  Or it may come at a different time than when we think it should.  And when what we think doesn't happen we let it ruin our days or seasons of life. Today's quote is two-fold in my opinion.  The obvious lesson is to quit with the dramatics and don't translate "one" bad day as your whole life and God's plans for it are rui...

Lean forward into your life.  Begin each day as if it were on purpose.   Mary Anne Radmacher Is this day on purpose for you?  Are you looking at this day with anticipation of what can and will be?  If not then you've got a long day ahead of you.  Here's the deal.  It's all about our attitudes and perspectives.  Leaning forward into our days and lives gets our heads and hearts in the game (so to speak).  Dragging ourselves into our days and lives keeps us sour and whiny.  Lately I've been wishing people a happy birthday with the expressed hope that they can spend the day celebrating the life God has gifted them with.  That's an attitude of leaning forward into your life.  And while we all have an "off" and bad day now and then, overall our lives have purpose and we should eagerly lean into that purpose.   (Yes even the mundane has purpose.)   So lean forward into your life and see what purpose arises. ...

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.   Robert Louis Stevenson I'm a black thumb.  I always say that if it's not human I can't help to keep it alive.  :)  Seriously.  I follow watering and light directions exactly (or so I believe) and still anything I have planted (and I use that term loosely and if you know me well enough you know what I mean!) or anything given to me to keep alive I manage to kill off.  It's frustrating. Sometimes my life feels like that.  I imagine you might be nodding your head in agreement.  You know what I'm saying right?  We take time to till the soil, plant the seeds, water and we wait and wait and wait and get nothing.  It could be a relationship, it could be a dream job, it could be a dream, it could be just about anything.  I think part of our problem may be our patience - or lack thereof.  See, the Farmer knows that you plant but then you wait.  The ...

What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.   Unknown Today counts, whether you think so or not.  No matter what you do today you are exchanging life for it.  How will you spend it?  Watching mindless TV (not pointing any fingers - my hub will tell you I participate in this activity more than he would like me to!)?  Slacking off at work?  Working diligently?  Making positive ripples in your circles of influence?  Putting frowns or smiles on the faces of those you get the opportunity to come into contact with?  Complaining?  Choosing joy? Today counts. When you go to bed tonight and your mind naturally reviews your day (as all of our minds do whether we want to review or not) what do you want the review to look like?  Feel like?  Sound like?  What kind of impression will this day of your life leave on you and others?  Make it count for you have exchanged a whole day of life ...

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.   John Burrough Amen and amen again to today's quote!  I feel like this often.  What's the "solution"?  Live fully in each day with as few regrets as possible.  Be intentional with your relationships, your health, what you choose to dwell on.  And for heaven's sake read a book!  :)