2018: By The Numbers

The 334th day of 2018 is the last day of November.  Only one month left in 2018.  I am both glad to have the chance turn the page on this turbulent year and also a bit overwhelmed by how fast time is going.  Tomorrow is December and that means CHRISTMAS IS COMING!  The number of the day will be the number of days remaining, 31!  And John Denver and the Muppets sing about the holiday that is on its way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TW7NiFZlhI

It was a strange palindromic 333rd day of 2018.  I was not feeling well this morning, so I stayed home and took a sick day.  So today was both good (I got to wear sweatpants) and bad (my stomach felt bad all day).  And, on 11/29/18, I again did not know what I would post for my daily reflection. So I went to my go to place (National Day Calendar) and found out that today is Electronic Greetings Day.  Now, for me, every day is electronic greetings day since I make at LEAST one FB post to you all each day.  So, recognizing that, I am going to the same well I have a few times this year and am holding the current number of my FB Friends (4,423) as my number of the day.  And, my favorite song with Electric in the title is this 80s classic from Eddy Grant.  HELLO to all and GREETINGS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPk5IUbdH0

On the 6th day after the 4th Thursday of November (i.e. the Wednesday after Thanksgiving), the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center was lit.  We love watching this event, not because the music is anything special, but we love the moment when they light the large, majestic tree.  And they lit the Philadelphia City Hall tree as well tonight!  To celebrate Christmas Trees, our number will be 2,555.  Because that is about how many days (a little under seven years) that it takes for a Christmas Tree to be grown to full-size on a Christmas Tree farm (almost 15,000 in the US!)  And, a really nice version of O Christmas Tree will be our song of the evening.  We're getting our tree soon!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNlyrxDRavA

Another "made up" holiday on the 331st day of 2018.  11/27/18 is a professed day of giving, "Giving Tuesday," if you will, but I do not give on this day.  I do give many of the other 364 days of the year but, as I said to someone else today, I guess I do not like to be told when to give.  But, giving is key and today's number is 390.05 billion, for the dollar estimate of what was given to charities and foundations each year!  And, since the stewardship theme at my church this year is Dr. Seuss' book, The Giving Tree, I will use the song of the same name from the Plain White Ts.  Hope you all give as well (but not necessarily today :-D ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wGhqtWR4uo

Some days are busy (like today with work and then the Penn Band Elections) and I do not always have time to think about my daily number.  So, on 11/26/18, I checked the National Day Calendar and saw it is National Cake Day.  I then Googled "cake number" and got my number for Day #330 of the year.  Not really a number, the "cake number" is actual a function that gets a series of numbers.  Kinda cool - 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 26, 42, 64, 93, …  And, I had to pick a song, so I am bopping along to this DNCE song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaRiD5ym74

On the 329th day of 2018, we started the day at Church (of course, it's Sunday!).  And, on 11/25/18 (hey, one month to Christmas!), I was the lector, reading the day's scriptures.  One of them this morning, was Psalm 72.  To me, this Psalm is about our desires for future (and dare I say current) leaders of the world.  It implores God to give them wisdom and grace to know and to do their duty.  And these verses stuck out to me:                                    May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,                                        the hills the fruit of righteousness.                                    May he defend the afflicted among the people     ...

On the 328th day of 2018 we participated in a town parade.  It was awesome.  But 11/24/18 is also Small Business Saturday.  So, to honor that, our number of the day is 27.9 million.  That is the approximate number of small businesses in the United States.  So, in addition to that number, we will listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive sing about taking care of them.  In this holiday season, do not forget your neighborhood small businesses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCIUf8eYPqA