Ask Not...

There are websites devoted to “the question of the day.”  These sites will ask you, or send you via e-mail, a different question every day in order to challenge you or allow you to compare your answer to the answers offered by others.  But many of us don’t challenge ourselves with a different question every day.  Instead, we ask ourselves the same question again and again day after day.  I can’t tell you what your question of the day is, but if you stop and think about it you’ll probably come up with it.

So, what’s the question you ask yourself just about every day?  Here are some possibilities:
What terrible thing will happen to me today? – or - What good thing will happen to me today?
What’s wrong with me anyway? – or – What’s wrong with them anyway?
How am I going to make it through this day?

You get the idea.  Do you ask yourself some question like that as you begin each day?  You probably do, in a rather automatic, sub-conscious way.  The question you ask yourself each day sets your expectations and perspective for the day.  The question you ask yourself frames the way you look at the day as you go through it and it frames the way you’ll evaluate the day once it’s over.  So, the question of the day is important in shaping your satisfaction level with your days and therefore with your life.

Mindful of that, let me suggest a question of the day that will serve us well.  Try this: “How can I bless someone today?”   In tribute to JFK I borrow from him to say, “Ask not what others can do for you; ask what you can do for others.”  It’s not exactly in the Bible, but it’s very compatible.