Coffee Talk Thursday: Mercy for a Bad Day

Bloggers write about many things, but one thing they often seem silent on is the topic of bad days. One blogger once said she never writes about her bad days because "who wants to hear about it?", as if voicing only what's rosy with one's life is uplifting, while sharing the dirt remains outside the public realm of the blogosphere. Yet I think this can cause readers to feel that bad days only happen within their own home, since no one else ever seems to mention they, too, had a lousy day. Perfect is the person who has a wonderful day everyday (and the only perfect person who ever lived did not always have "perfect" days either).  So as you may have guessed by now, today was a bad day.

It didn't necessarily start out that way, but it sure headed in that direction fast. Highlights (or lowlights?) include when my two year old and almost one-year old were playing in the sun porch while I was loading plates in the dishwasher after lunch. I checked on them every two minutes. First two minutes, fine. Second two minutes, dirt from my potted plants covered the floor, the window ledges, the dog bed, my one-year old. Hair, eyes, clothes. Everywhere. Got him in the bath and the boys up for a nap. Tried to get some things done during their nap time (couldn't vacuum the porch because it would wake them up). Went to vacuum the porch when they woke up, only to hear my oldest son yell to me, "Mom come look at what Xave [short for Xavier] has done!"

My two-year old is really quite ingenious. Applied correctly, this would be masterful. Today it was disaster-ful. He managed to break the sealed cap off a bottle of cranberry juice and was pouring it all over the kitchen floor when I stopped him cold. I could not find a single paper towel (yes, we still use them). I lost my temper. (I apologized later).

Now for my point :)

When you are having a miserably awful day, I know of no better way to turn it around, no better way to experience God's mercy, than to take a walk. The fresh air does wonders. Maybe it is all that extra oxygen--it helps your brain think more clearly. Expending physical energy helps expel frustration and anger. The sunshine (if there is some) cheers you up. Your perspective is renewed. You can pray and burn off steam and start to enjoy your children again (the faster you walk, the more you like them! just kidding).

After taking your walk and restoring your sanity, you can reflect prayerfully on your day. What went wrong? Why? How can you make it better the next time (little people and potted plants don't mix unsupervised; cranberry juice up high)? And remember how it is with seeds: you can't see what's happening under the surface but you still go about tending to the seeds you know are there, and soon you begin to see the green sprouts of the plant. So it is on the bad days. It seems like nothing good nor productive is happening, but keep being diligent to train your children in proper godly character, and soon you will see that the lessons you've been trying to hammer home have sprouted.