We’ve all had those mornings. The ones where you just wake up cranky. The ones you dread before it even gets going. Or, the ones where you wake up well-rested and fine, but quickly circumstances change your mood…
That has been me the past two mornings. Two perfectly good days gone bad!
Yesterday it was my computer. Last week I got a new battery and then had to leave it overnight for a new hard-drive, too. I thought when they called I would just go pick it up, fixed. But as it turned out I had to make three separate trips to the Apple store at the mall – about 45 minutes round trip each time from my house. The biggest panic was thinking I lost everything- pictures, documents, you name it. But after my final three hour stay at the store until closing time, I left with everything recovered and good to go.
Absolutely exhausted by the time I got home, I was more than ready to go to bed and wake up to a new day. But as Murphy’s Law would have it, or more rightly said God’s sanctifying work in my life, the new day didn’t welcome me with a “Good Morning” either!
I logged on to our bank account from my perfectly working computer 🙂 to see if my husband’s paycheck, that was supposed to post on Friday, had gone through. Nope! Something was wrong, it’s never been late. But it was too early to call the payroll service or bank. So there went my plan to hit the grocery store early; we needed some funds first, but food just as badly!
In the midst of this I discovered our very old and increasingly grumpy-old-man of a dog had left a nice mound of poop on the rug by my breakfast room chair. He never has done this! But as I’m cleaning it since I’m the only adult up, one of my sons threw up… oh, did I mention his temperature has been 101 the past two days? And his birthday is tomorrow so any plans for that are on hold?
Ugh! What else? Well, besides my other son’s non-stop peppering of questions…
Can I go to a movie today? no!
Can I have a friend over? No!!
Can we have donuts for breakfast? NO!!!
What do you do on these mornings that just aren’t good? Am I excused from being nice? Am I allowed sinful reactions because of what’s going on? Am I justified to stay grouchy?
This is when I must look outside of myself and to the Word of God. This is when I need to know how to preach the gospel to myself. This is when I need to pray REAL. This is when the gospel becomes practical every day!
Here is what I mean… I need to talk to God. I need to tell him honestly where my heart is at. I need to see my inclination for a pity party and ask for His help.
I need to see that He is bigger than my bad circumstances. That in His goodness, He gave up His Son for ME and that in Him alone is Life! And that in my human frustrations, emotions and sin I can come to Him and He understands. He is with me and gives me Hope.
He may not change the day, but He gives me the grace to face it. This is sanctification – the lifelong process of conforming His children more and more to His image. Of making me holy.
So now when I look back at yesterday and see I was still able to laugh with the Mac guy helping me that was God’s grace. When I was able to clean up the messes this morning and still get breakfast made without yelling at anyone that was God’s grace. When I was able to play a game of ping pong with my sick son and have fun on a bad day, that was God’s grace…and medicine to my soul!
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
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Love this! I signed up to follow you. Glad to see and hear you’re doing so well. I miss you!