Thankful For Good Days And Bad

“O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you.
Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.” -Isaiah 33:2 (NIV)

The other night I was killing time with my youngest two children while we waited for their sisters to finish up dance rehearsal. Because we did not have much time before they finished, I drove around and listened to the radio while we waited. Much to my chagrin, one station in our city has already started playing Christmas music at night. I made the mistake of scanning past that station as I searched for a song on the radio, and that was all it took. “Mommy!” my four year old son yelled. “Play that song!”

Now, to me, mid November is just too early to start listening to Christmas music. And so it was everything in me to use this moment to impart this wisdom to my young son. However, in a flash of reasoning, I realized, he is four. To a four year old, the calendar does not matter. To a four year old, the spirit of the season—the anticipation of the holiday and all that it brings—is what matters. And so, in the middle of November, I listened to Christmas music with my children. I sang Christmas music with my children. I talked about Christmas with my children. We giggled and reminisced and had fun. I was glad I followed my heart. I felt like a good mom. I was a good mom. I started mentally patting myself on the back for being such a good mom.

I think we all have good days where we feel like we have this motherhood thing figured out. We start thinking that we handled a situation particularly well or said just the right thing or had the right measure of patience. These moments fuel us for the future. While deep down we know we don’t have it figured out, we can allow ourselves to revel in the moment. We feel like a good mom, so that must mean we are a good mom. And this works well, until the bad days come.

Not too long ago, I had a bad day. A colossal bad day. I had a run-in with my teenage son that left me feeling totally unprepared and ill-equipped to mother him or any other child for that matter. I called my friend to vent to her and just confessed to her how bad I was feeling about myself. She gave me a piece of advice that I have carried with me ever since. She said, “Don’t let the bad days define you.” Just because I had a bad day with my son didn’t mean that defined who I was once and for all. In God’s grace, He makes all things new—new day, new attitude, new perspective. He is the God of second chances—for wayward children and hopeless moms. He is the God of hope and He restores our soul on those days when we feel worthless.

The other night as I sang Christmas music in November, I was feeling on top of my game. But that did not mean that I was on top of my game. I was simply having a good moment in a string of motherhood moments. The flip side of this is that when I am feeling like the worst mom ever, it does not mean I am the worst mom ever. It just means that I am having a pretty rotten moment in my string of motherhood moments. In the end we get to look back on them all and marvel at how God strung them together with just the right amount of good and bad—not so many bad that we feel like failures and not so many good that we become prideful. He gives us all these days—the good and bad—as a priceless strand. This strand representing our victories and our losses is the real treasure of motherhood, and for that I will choose to be thankful.

Isaiah 33:6, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” (NIV)

Discussion:
How do you handle strings of bad moments? Does your everyday outward attitude express thankfullness for the hardships you face in your daily living? How does Christs promise to be your foundation impact your daily life?