Be Grateful for the gift of each day

Yesterday afternoon, I celebrated a Eucharist honoring a brother of a friend of the Seminary who had died, completely unexpectedly, on January 9 2023 in his early fifties. Today, I will attend a funeral of friend of the VTS Seminary, out of the parish of St. Paul's Alexandria, who died in her eighties.

Life is fragile. One should never assume on the gift of time. Wake up every day and simply say, "Thank you Jesus for the gift of this day". For each day is a gift. It is a miracle. You are awake as a thinking conscious being. It is amazing.

I never presume that I will be granted the next decade or that I will be a person laughing in their eighties. Life is a deep mystery. Never presume nor never assume. Just roll out of bed and marvel: you are alive. It is amazing.

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and President of General Theological Seminary