How Do You Handle Bad Days?
Have you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind where anything and everything goes wrong, and tasks take three times longer to accomplish than they should. I had one of those days this week.
I woke in a good mood considering I was facing a project deadline that day. I had a plan and most of the day set aside to work on the project, so I wasn’t overly concerned. But then, the day began in earnest.
I started the day as usual by taking Barnabas for a walk. Actually, I should say I tried to take him for a walk, but it was cut short due to circumstances beyond our control. Another dog in the neighborhood had gotten free and insisted on following us. The trouble was, he wanted to follow closely and was insistent on gaining my attention, which Barnabas perceived as a threat to my safety. Have I mentioned Barnabas is VERY protective of his mommy? He behaved admirably and tried to scare off the dog without doing any harm to him, but the other mutt wouldn’t take the hint. He continued to follow, which meant Barnabas kept stopping to confront him. Long story short, after not having even reached the end of our street, we turned around and returned home—me feeling frustrated and Barnabas feeling cheated out of his morning walk.
After having my devotions (which I definitely needed at that point), I called Barnabas to ready him to try our walk again. As soon as he reached the living room, he promptly threw up all over the floor and my shoe. Lovely! He’s been fighting off a cold, and the drainage has been causing stomach upset, so I wasn’t totally surprised by this emptying of his stomach contents, but I was feeling a bit annoyed.
After cleaning up the vomit (I hope you’re not eating right now) and giving Barnabas some bread to calm his stomach, we finally made it out for our walk. I was hoping to make it quick since we’d already lost so much of the day, but that wasn’t happening. My sweet pooch was in one of his moods where he needed to sniff every blade of grass and check out every pile of leaves. I could have hurried him along, but I felt sorry for him for having his first walk attempt thwarted and then getting sick. So, I indulged him and let him go at his own pace.
Finally, I could start on my project, which quickly turned into a nightmare of file size and format issues, program malfunctions, and one hiccup after another. After a couple of hours of fighting problems, I took a lunch break to regather my composure. When I opened the freezer door, I realized the ice box had shifted at some point, which meant the freezer door hadn’t closed all the way, which meant everything in my freezer was a soggy mess. SIGH!
After lunch, I got back to work on my project, hoping all the bugs had worked themselves out and things would run smoothly from then on. Didn’t happen! The problems continued. Every step was met by error messages and the idea that maybe what I was trying to accomplish wasn’t possible. . .at least, not for me. By the time Jason got home, I was a complete mess!
See, I told you I had one of those days. The question is, how do we handle bad days? What do we do when problems overwhelm us and our patience runs out? How do we respond to unmet expectations, dreaded delays, and frustrating situations?
Well, I’ll tell you in a moment, but first, let me share with you what NOT to do. This is how I handled my lousy day. First, I whined and complained and cried. Then, I sent Jason out for pizza, which I greedily enjoyed and washed down with a soda, followed promptly by a rather large hot fudge sundae. (Please don’t judge me!) Yes, I tried to drown my sorrows in comfort food. Did it work? Temporarily, but then I felt guilty about the number of calories I had consumed in one sitting, which made me feel frustrated by the amount of exercise I would need to do to work off those “comfort calories.” So, in the end, my bad day remedy was unsuccessful.
There are several people in the Bible, however, that handled their bad days in the right way. For the sake of time, I’ll only share two with you.
“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. ”
In the first chapter of Job, God’s faithful servant experiences a day worse than any I could ever imagine. In a matter of hours (or possibly even minutes), Job lost nearly everything he had. His children. His livestock. His barns. His servants. Gone. In the blink of an eye. Talk about a horrible day! So, what did Job do? According to the verse above, he worshipped. Say what? Worship? In such a dark hour? Yep, that’s what he did. And he wasn’t the only one to respond to heartache in such a way.
“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ”
Most scholars agree David penned this psalm when he was in the cave of Adullam. Fleeing for his life from the angry King Saul, David sought refuge in Gath, which was enemy territory. When the king of Gath sent David away, he found safety in the cave of Adullam and was joined by over 400 other “misfits” of the time. Despite David’s misfortune, this psalm is one of unending praise. Even after a series of bad days, the psalmist was able to say, “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Continually. In the good days and the bad. When things are going well and when they’re falling apart. Just like Job, faced with considerable opposition and loss, David worshipped God.
So, how do we handle bad days? If we follow the example set forth by these men and countless others, we’ll worship God. Praise Him in the sunshine and in the rain. Praise Him in the good days and the bad. Worship Him for who He is because no matter what we’re going through, God never changes. He is and always will be worthy of our praise!
“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”