So some days just feel like everything and everyone is against you?  That maybe even God is trying to tell you things are bad?

Flat tire?  Broken windshield?  Late for an appointment (no fault of yours)?  Too much bad weather?  Child is ill?  Someone was deeply hurtful to you?

There would be no end to “bad day possibilities”.

What do we do with those days?

          Write them off as “gone” or wasted and lost?

Or add to it, to include a bad week?

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Truly, I have trouble classifying a day as bad when lots of things go wrong.  I have trouble saying, “This day has started out terrible—I hope it’s not a sign of the rest of the day” … or the rest of the week…

How do YOU handle it?

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We had a hail storm.  We had a lot of damage.  Destroyed most of our window screens (9), damaged the cedar siding on our house, broke a window out, and even damaged our metal roof.

Well.  We were VERY blessed.  No tornado came and blew our house apart.  Our family is fine.

That’s the typical way I usually handle things like that.

Well.  This day (yesterday, to be exact), tested my resolve to stay mentally on top of “the bad day”.

A little over-tired from the weekend… It began Easter Sunday.  We almost bit off more than we could chew.  Sunrise service, then potluck breakfast at church, then Sunday School.

Then the kids were coming for dinner (A REALLY GOOD THING!)  Since most of the family was scattered and not going to be able to come, we decided to go non-traditional, and have a fish fry.  It Seemed ok since my daughter said she’d supply the fish and hush puppies. 

I’d just make a salad, make some brownies (what they like) and make sure I had some ice cream to go with it.

You know, we do things to ourselves so much of the time! 

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So we needed to be at the church service at 6:30, so food needed to be there before that.

We started at 4 am, cooking sausage, making sausage gravy, chocolate gravy, and baking biscuits; packing it all up, and reviewing my class lesson…

Somehow we got it all done.  (And not to worry about our fish fry until we get back home)

I wanted to keep my focus on keeping myself from rushing.  It’s a tremendous bad habit I have.  I’ve been trying to help myself slow down when everything in me says I need to go faster. 

(We really do miss out on a lot of life when we rush). And besides that, when we rush, we get frustrated… our heart rate rises… all kinds of negatives happen inside our body.

We had a wonderful Sunrise Service.  The breakfast was great With all kinds of delicious food!  And Sunday School Class was also blessed.

Now, get back home; take a breath then get ready for that fish fry.

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Got all the breakfast utensils cleaned up and put away; salad made; salad dressing made; fish cooker ready; table set; all ready.  I even sat down for a few minutes—and did relax for a couple of minutes of that time. 

(Husband had said, use paper plates; no…we’re using real plates today.  And real glasses too.  It’s funny how we make simple little decisions that affect our future.

All is Well.

Kids came.  Great meal that went well.  Food was delicious, and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

After my son left, my daughter mentioned going for a walk.  I’m up for that!  It’s funny how we make those little decisions, that affect more than that moment!

We walked our simple walk to the feeding pens, through the calves.  Fine.  Do we want to go further?  That would add almost a mile and half more.  I’m up for that!  (There’s those decisions again!)

The wind was ferocious.  Beautiful day, but the wind was tremendous.

That second leg of the walk wasn’t that far, but it was a challenge for me.  We made good time, so I got some really good exercise.  I realized I need to do it ‘way more often.  Anyway, back home… we visited, and rested a bit.  Blessings!!

I got all the fish frying utensils cleaned up, and loaded the dishwasher with the rest.  It was full.

I’m done.  I’m exhausted.  I’m ready to rest, and go to bed. 

I turn the dishwasher on.

After a couple of minutes… beep, beep, beep.  Then in a couple minutes more… beep, beep, beep.

The dishwasher would not work.  I tried to make it work.  It would NOT.

I refused to get upset.  My plan was: I’m doing NOTHING TONIGHT.  In the morning, I would calmly unload the dishwasher, and wash everything.  I would take my time and act like it’s just a regular day.

Oh, yes… we also had a plumbing leak that we couldn’t find the source.

The contractor had to cut part of the wall out to find it; it will have to dry out inside the wall before he can finish.

But the wall wasn’t rotted, and it can be repaired fairly simply.

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I was SOOOO tired…. Not enough sleep for a couple of nights, then eating the wrong kind of foods… including brownies and ice cream—and I had over 12,000 steps.

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THEN… I realized that the event I am to MC, that I for some reason had in my mind was next Saturday… So it’s day after tomorrow!  And I have done absolutely NOTHING to prepare!

OK.  I can do it.

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So, in the bathroom, getting ready for night… what is that on the floor??

Is that termites??

Well, yes.  Yes, it is.

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Anyway…

You know… we’re still alive and healthy.  We can still wear our bodies out and gain that strength back.  We can keep ourselves mostly in control and fairly calm.  The kids are all healthy.  We have a good life.  We’re able to work, and we enjoy working.  We’re able to enjoy our life.

Who knows why or how things happen!  Sometimes it’s from decisions we make.  Sometimes things just happen!  It really doesn’t matter.  Life happens, good and bad.  And we’re blessed to be able to live it. 

We’re blessed with the strength to work a little bit in the garden this morning before starting our workday.  We’re blessed to get to enjoy the stars, and the moon.  And those beautiful clouds!  We’re blessed to have each other.

And we do have insurance on our house for the hail damage.  We don’t have a termite policy, but again… the decisions we make affect our future.

Decisions are important, so it’s important for us to make the best ones we can.

God gives us a brain to think and figure things out, but sometimes we still think in the wrong direction.  Asking for God’s guidance helps too. 

And we’re never going to make every decision right.  All we can do is the best we can decide at the time.  And ask for God’s grace.

And bad or ill-fated things will happen in our lives if we make every single decision perfectly.  SO… Know This:

We’re blessed.  And we for sure need to remember that, regardless of the many things that might go wrong in our lives.

Our lives are a journey with a series of hurdles of one kind or another, and I believe it’s our job to enjoy it all if we can, or as much as we can.

There will never be a life that has no upsets or hurdles.  Look at Jesus’s life, for instance.  So we might as well make the best of it, and enjoy it if we can.  Then re-group and begin again.

And BE THANKFUL, through it all.

Blessings to you as you travel your path.

Blessings on your decisions.

Blessings on your life, and on your family.

If I can help you in any way, contact me.  Email, or FB Messenger, or give me a call.

I hope you can find the tidbits of wisdom in these words, and I pray it helps you, especially if you are having some hurdles in your life.

Thank you for reading.

Sharon