"It's just another day for you and me..... in paradise."
I'm one of the lucky ones who has the privilege of living on the coast ... the lesser known coast ... the NW Florida coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. It's beautiful here... sugar white sandy beaches... November temps have been cool this week... nighttime temps have been in the mid 40s. Daytime weather is sunny and a cool 75 degrees.
No snow. No ice. Maybe for 3-5 weeks during the winter (January or February) we'll have freezing cold rainy weather... the last (only) time I've seen snow here that actually stuck to the ground (a couple of inches) was December, 1989. My children were 1 yr, 4 yr, and 6 yrs old. I know they have missed out on a lot of fun ... I grew up in Tennessee, so I remember beautiful white snow. Last November, we spent a week in the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, TN, and it snowed at the very top on Clingman's Dome on the last day of our stay... we had to drive up to the Dome so my kids (now grown up kids) could see the snow.
But this post is about ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE ... a Phil Collins song ... the video is one of his performances compliments of YOU TUBE. People who visit our area... known as "The World's Most Beautiful Beaches" often say this is Paradise. Not too hot... not too crowded (other than spring break) ... not too far to drive if you live anywhere in GA, AL, TN, MS, or most of northwest to central Florida. We have lots of people this time of the year from Canada, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc.
Even here we have so many people who have no one to care for them. We have a downtown rescue mission that is bursting at the seams with families in need. There are so many children who don't have warm clothes, coats, comfortable, clean shoes. There are so many women wondering how they will provide for their children and so many men who feel that responsibility with such a sense of desperation that most of us cannot imagine. And then there are the elderly, the lonely, the forsaken. Even in Paradise, people exist in a living "hell" every day.
The song reminds me of those people, and it makes me ask, "What will I do with this day in this beautiful place?" Will I continue to live only for myself or will I take a deep breath and ask, "What can I do?"
In a couple of weeks, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving Day, followed closely by "the holidays" ... whatever that means to you ... Christmas services or holiday parties or Religious celebrations or just vacation time. My question to you, and to myself, is "What will we do with this day?" ... so that those special holidays can be happy celebrations and meaningful services for everyone living another day in Paradise?
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