Get Ready Day

September 20 is Get Ready Day. This day is planned as a way to remind everyone to be prepared for natural disasters, pandemic illnesses, infectious diseases, and other crisis events. We recently had a devastating flood in Louisiana, and so many things are needed to deal with the problems floods bring – temporary housing, cleaning supplies, clothes, water, food, medicine and first aid supplies, bedding or sleeping bags, batteries, flashlights, bug repellant, pet food, phone chargers, and personal hygiene articles, to name a few. Every year we are reminded to prepare for hurricanes in Louisiana, and the needs are similar. One item we have learned to have on hand is cash. Without electricity, stores can’t process credit cards. We also try to keep our gas tank filled when hurricanes are forecast. Sometimes it is impossible to communicate with family members. Make a disaster plan for ways to contact each other.

“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” —Zig Ziglar

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

~N

Another Look Unlimited Day

Today is Another Look Unlimited Day. It’s a day intended to reduce what we put in landfills. I read that we are the largest trash-dumping country in the world with over 1,500 pounds per person going into our landfills each year. Take a second look in your storage areas. Do you see some things you can reuse or donate to charity? Take time today to help our planet stay beautiful.

Proverbs 27:18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.

~N

Labor Day

September 7 is Labor Day. Labor Day has been celebrated as a national holiday since 1887. It is always on the first Monday in September. When I was growing up, it was the last day before school started, the last day to wear white, the last day to swim, and the last day to wear sandals and summer clothes. The day after Labor Day I began wearing fall clothes and saddle oxfords. To me, it was the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year and football season. I still think of it as the end of summer and the beginning of fall – and all the fun fall events, but I must confess, I expect to wear sandals and cool clothes tomorrow and for many days to come.

Psalm 74:17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

~N

Calendar Adjustment Day

Pope Gregory XIII

September 2 is Calendar Adjustment Day. This roots for this holiday begin in 1751 when the British Parliament passed The Calendar Act of 1751. This act required Britain and everyone in the British Empire to adopt the Gregorian Calendar. February 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal edict to follow the Gregorian Calendar, which was intended to correct the eleven minutes that were off in the Julian Calendar. Eleven minutes doesn’t sound like much, but the error was compounded by the more than one thousand years it had been used. Most of Europe began using the Gregorian Calendar, but Britain and the countries in the British Empire kept using the Julian Calendar, as did Greece and Russia. The difference in dates became very confusing. Some people even wrote letters giving both dates. The Calendar Act of 1751 declared that the day following September 2 would be September 14. So, the British people went to sleep on the night of September 2 and woke up on September 14, and many of them were decidedly unhappy at having had such a long sleep or at missing eleven days, and riots and fights broke out. Even more days were lost when Greece-in 1923–and Russia–in 1918–decided to use the Gregorian calendar too. Both countries had to make a thirteen-year adjustment. When you see the date today, think of the hullabaloo surrounding it, and remember that confusion has always been a part of the human experience.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

~N