December 18th

God Made Them Both

          In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.

Ecclesiastes 7:14

           

            We have good days.  We have bad days.  When we wake up in the morning, we never know which one we are entering into.

            Will it be a day filled with laughter and successes?  Will it be a day filled with tears and frustration and failures?  Will it be a day where we are reminded of our isolation?  Will it be a day where our community rallies around us?  Will it be a day where our kids sleep?  Will it be a day where our kids are healthy?  Will it be a day that ends in an emergency room visit?

            There was a mantra that I had in my early days of parenting.  I would wake up for work hours before the sun rose after just a couple hours of sleep with a day filled with labor and meetings waiting for me.  My head would be fuzzy; my body would ache and everything in me just wanted to snarl at a new day.  I would groggily get up and say to myself, “Today does not have to suck.”  Every indicator pointed to that day being filled with misery and disappointment, however I could choose to look for the good in the day and it did not have to be another bad day.

            We don’t know if it will be a good day or a bad day.  What we do know is that God made them both.  God does not waste time.  He does not create things just to make us wait for the really significant days to come along.  If God caused the sun to rise and allowed us to wake up today, then there is something here for our benefit.  There is something to learn.  There is some way to grow.  There is someone out there in this big, wide world who needs to interact with us today because of what we are specifically bringing with us.

            There is a reason that we have today, whether it turns out to be a good day or a bad one.  If it is a good day, be joyful.  Thank God for the things that went right and the ways that your child was well loved.  If it was a bad day, reflect.  Think through what we could have done differently.  Pray for wisdom and stamina and hope for tomorrow.  If it was a disastrous, horrific and traumatizing day, lean in to Jesus.  He had some of those days as well.  He knows that sometimes you just need to collapse with someone who loves you at the end of those days.

            God made the days: good, bad and in-between.  Each one has treasure hidden in it awaiting discovery. 

            Today does not have to suck.

A moment to reflect:

What kind of day are you planning on having today?