Everyone has one of those days. It might start early in the morning, or later in the day. Something small but not-quite-right happens that gets under your skin. Today I was looking forward to sleeping in, as Jac didn’t have school. Then two of my kids woke up at 6:15AM anyways, my youngest insisting I feed him breakfast.
This tiny inconvenience that gets under your skin is compounded by several other ones that usually wouldn’t bother you a bit, but today irritate the garbage out of you. I was so behind today, despite managing my time the best I could (why was I behind? I got up early?!?!) and I couldn’t make phone calls regarding my son’s therapy. MOM GUILT.
Sometimes we nip it in the bud, like the time I drove almost an hour to therapy only to find out insurance issues meant our session was cancelled. Instead of being annoyed, I took advantage of the babysitting situation and gave my son a leisurely visit to a nearby park without his siblings.
But sometimes, despite all efforts, prayer, worship, chanting mantras, you name it; the Bad Day settles itself in and refuses to dislodge. Today I’m trying to figure out why, as my husband watches the kids at the playground and I ponder from a park bench. He figured I needed alone time.
In the midst of the brokenness and my silly angst over pretty much nothing, I feel the quiet stir of my soul. I blogged about this last week. I’m hungry for a perfect world without pain and mistakes and sadness, because I know it exists. The subtle burning desire inside is a promise of an eternity full of life, joy and perfection.
So what is the point to this tedious exercise? Why am I still here? Who would rather be here anyway? Asking these questions, I feel God whisper gently, “I need you to see that you need Me.” Reality opens up as it occurs to me that I’ve done it again. Tried to be super-mom. The Glorious Mom in my own strength. Perhaps buoyed by my successes, I forget I am nothing, have nothing and can do nothing apart from the Holy Spirit empowering me.
I need the fruit of the Spirit in my life. I can’t do love, joy, peace – forget patience! – any of that is impossible. The best thing I can do is run to my Creator in my broken state and admit my desperate need. My glaringly obvious shortcomings. The Bible says He is close to the broken-hearted, but when I try to be fantastic on my own, He’s not quite close, and I’m not quite fantastic.
Thank God He was waiting for this moment! For me to admit I need Him and to run to Him, humbly begging His presence and provision over my life. From this viewpoint, I understand how sometimes I need moments like this where I’m not quite excelling but rather failing gloriously, so I can see things clearly, as they are. Sometimes I need to have a Bad Day.
For me, as soon as I label it a “bad day” it becomes one. Sometimes I think God gives us negative feelings so we’ll stop and pray and quit getting so caught up in the little things around us.
I think you’re right! When that little thought gets stuck in your head, though, it’s sure tough to get rid of
My wife, Katie, and I talk about this regularly, because it seems like when her day doesn’t start off it can set the tone for the rest of the time with our kids.
Really, that first moment when you realize things are a bit off is super crucial
So incredibly powerful! I needed this and I know I’m not the only one. At times I do try to do too much and it does cause me to stress out and act out. My husband always gets shocked and confused. I’m semi-confused myself but I give into my attitude because I choose to be upset. Knowing the root can help me cure the cause. Great post!
God is big and we are small! Our need for Him is great
I’m really feeling like little things can spiral and turn into big things making you have a bad day. It’s all in the way you react, I guess!
Yeah, reactions are huge
Beautiful post!
Thank you!
Noticing when things are going the wrong direction and being able to turn our mood around are skills we all could benefit from. It is definitely not easy, and sometimes we need to have a bad day to regroup and try again the next.
This is true!
THis always hits close to home, God is good ?
Yes, even when we fail!
Love this. Letting an irritation snowball into a bad attitude will just make everything irritating from that point out. I have a bad habit of doing that.
Yeah, sometimes being conscious of it isn’t enough to stop it for me, however
So true. The bad days make you appreciate the good ones. They also make you see how insignificant some things are, and really shouldn’t make it a bad day after all.
It’s all about perspective
Great powerful post, thanks for writing this!
No problem. Thanks for reading ?
I had one of those days last week. Mom guilt and everything. But it was a good reminder for me to allow myself grace the way Jesus always allows me grace.
Yeah, it’s hard to do that for ourselves sometimes.
I love the way you point out the views we face
It’s amazing to me how I can take one bad moment and turn it into an entire bad day. Mostly because I lack love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and most of all self-control! Such a great post!
Thanks! Yeah, we all gotta work on the fruit of the Spirit
[…] of us here in the wealthy USA struggle with being unhappy, despite our numerous blessings. If we have a bad day, or string of days, our mood turns sour. If we’re a stay-at-home mom, our kids drives us […]