Last Friday, I opened my eyes and rolled out of bed as tired as I got into it the night before!
Five minutes later, with coffee in hand, I was going through the long checklist in my head of things that had to be done that day as I was checking my email on my iphone and trying to stuff sheets into the washer... while 3 dogs were barking and running circles around me...
Yes, it was going to be "one of those days"! I could just tell. For a few seconds I contemplated junking the whole day and climbing back into bed! "I think a few more hours of sleep followed by reading a stack of magazines and drinking copious amounts of strong coffee might be just the thing to let this dark-cloud-of-a-day pass by"!
Not possible! I had a house filled to the rafters with family... and breakfast to make for all of them. And for some reason I had been "off" making breakfast lately. And today I particularly did not want to make it! But I was just too tired to carry the guilt of not making breakfast for my family around all day... so I begrudgingly and sorta grumpily got through it!
By 8:00 AM a DOZEN other things were plucking at my last nerve.
Later that morning when breakfast was over and cleaned up but I wasn't... and the family went in their different directions for the morning I settled in working on a decor project for my home and blog, trying to check one thing off the long to-do list in my mind!
That was quickly interrupted by bad news about my new upcoming blog design... news I really was not prepared to hear!
By then I was mad at the world and frustrated and wanted to cry and I was not handling life very well at all!!!! A heavy black cloud had formed over my head. And, albeit imaginary, it was the thunderous kind and sparked with flashes of sharp and jaggedy lightening and it was not raining... but pouring... on my parade-of-a-day!
As I was digging through a closet to find the glue gun a shelf came unfastened from the wall and crashed to the ground! Glitter and glue sticks and papers and burlap and paint came crashing down. One of the paint cans bounced off my big toe... OUCH... and it's contents splashed all over the floor!
Standing in a pool of duck egg blue paint with little floating glitter islands I wanted to say every bad word I had ever heard!
But instead, "This is NOT working" came out in a thin defeated breath!
I was having a terrible horrible no good very bad day!
I was having a terrible horrible no good very bad day!
As the words were escaping me, like air being let out of a tired balloon, I realized where I had gone wrong earlier that morning!
Yes, it certainly was a "terrible horrible no good very bad day" as Alexander would say ... but at that second I remembered the antidote... the cure to a day like this... and it had nothing to do with going to Australia (if this is a little confusing you need to read the children's book.... Alexander's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day).
I cleaned off my duck egg blue feet... leaving the rest of the mess to deal with itself... grabbed my bible and my journal and r-a-n upstairs to my bedroom and locked the door. No, not to sleep... but to spend time with My Father!
He, and He alone was the cure to my Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day! Jesus knew this too. His example taught me.
Jesus spent time early in the morning praying and communicating with His Father. He spent time when things got bad communicating with His Father.
HE SENT TIME... WITH HIS FATHER!
There has never been anyone on the face of this earth that has had more stress in their human life than Jesus... and never will be!
His answer.. his cure to a Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day... time with God!
After time with My Father... talking... and crying a little and reading His words of comfort and advice from His book... and telling Him my failings and shortcoming in handing the terrible horrible no good very bad day I was in a much better, stronger and happier place. A place of Shalom... peace.
Nothing about the circumstances of the day had changed!
I was still physically tired.
I still had a huge long list of things to do... but now most of them did not seem that important.
I still had a house full of people... but people I love so!
There were still 3 rambunctious dogs making messing of my windows and floors and one with a slobber issue... which is never okay in my book, but I was handling it (and him).
Breakfast was over, but dinner was still ahead of me!
The blog news did not change and believe me the pool of duck egg blue paint with glitter islands was still there.
Nothing had changed... but ME!
I had changed! God changed me... and equipped me and strengthened me and blessed me for the day ahead!
Spending time with Him...being honest and transparent and authentic before Him... giving Him all the terrible and horrible and no good of this very bad day was a very good thing!
So, now I know and you know the cure for our terrible horrible no good very bad days!
But we've known all along... sometimes we just need to be reminded that things happen... terrible things and horrible things and very bad things and no good things... but God is always there... always waiting... and He is always Good!!
He is the Eternal Listener! The All Powerful Burden Lifter! The Loving Father with big strong arms! The Merciful Cure to all our days... bad, good and in between!
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