How do you face the day?
Do you need Gordon Lightfoot’s proverbial second cup of coffee? Or maybe you need a battle cry to get your motor running? Conventional wisdom tells us to seize the day: Carpe Diem!
When I hear that phrase, it conjures those stirring last lines of William Ernest Henley's poem, Invictus:
"I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."
People everywhere urge us to seize the day. They write about it, make speeches about it, teach classes about it. Some actually do it.
Most of us, though, just feel guilty about not doing it. Or not doing it very well. Or not doing it as well as someone else. We’ve all heard the exhortation. It sounds like the right thing to do. And, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Dillard* writes: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” No one wants to be accused of wasting a day.
Still, I wonder: Is Carpe Diem really the best exhortation for us? Do we even need a daily battle cry?
John Ortberg, theologian and author, suggests our desire should not be to seize the day, but rather to welcome whatever the day brings to us.** We should have confidence in our God and not feel the need to control it all. He proposes we substitute "Salve” for “Carpe."
Salve Diem: Greet the day.
It's the perfect term for this week's Matthew selection. In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus explains the kingdom of God is like a tiny seed growing into something so large that it provides an enormous shelter.*** We need to trust in God, the true captain of our souls, to provide what is needed for this day. And, like Solomon in this week’s 1 Kings passage, we should ask for wisdom to handle what comes our way.
The Kingdom of God really is like a mustard seed: Massive growth is inevitable because the mustard seed knows no limits. The mustard seed doesn't "seize the day."
It simply is what God made it.
By being itself, the mustard seed grows to great size. That’s what mustard seeds do. And that is the takeaway for us. We must trust that God can and will use us as we are.
With faith in God to be in it with us, we can all say “Salve Diem!”
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BONUS MATERIAL
PHOTO of a fully grown mustard plant:
https://snowmasschapel.org/mustard-seed-moments/
For you Gordon Lightfoot fans, here’s Chris Roberts’ cover of Gordon’s “Second Cup of Coffee” with all its pathos, regret, and desire for second chances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JivIHrVxTMs
*Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life
**Ortberg’s article “What to Do With a Day” resides, unfortunately, behind a paywall. So, unless you have a subscription to “Christianity Today Pastors,” you’ll have to take my word for it.
***Short article explaining about the so-called "mustard tree."
http://allfearless.com/2012/09/the-mustard-seed-controversy/
***A reflection on the mustard seed parable:
http://dannycoleman.blogspot.com/2012/07/parable-of-mustard-seed.html?m=1
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Join us for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast on Zoom* and in Waco at Our Breakfast Place. We meet Friday morning at 8:00. We have a great time discussing the scriptures, eating some delicious food, and laughing out loud. It's a wonderful way to greet the day. Salve Diem.
Second cups of coffee are on the house.
Blessings,
Steve
*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=17134&z=p&d=66
Print them from here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Ax_Proper12.pdf
Genesis 29:15-38
Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b
Psalm 128
1 Kings 3: 5-12
Psalm 119: 129-136
Romans 8: 26-39
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52
Proper 12 (17) Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (July 26, 2026)
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