Southeast Church of Christ

How to get through a bad day

We all have them, don’t we? And some poor souls -- such as those shut-up in nursing homes or incarcerated or incurably ill -- seem to have nothing but bad days. This time I am not writing to them as much as to us average folk who have only occasional bad days.

That may serve as the first rule in surviving bad days -- to realize that most days are reasonably good days, and that a bad day soon gives way to a good one. And if we are grateful for the good days, and use them to store up reserves for the not-so-good days we are better prepared when dark clouds loom.

Gratitude is in fact an important part of the answer -- gratitude for the good and bad days alike. We would not know the joy of gorgeous weather if it were not for rainy and stormy weather, and except for problems -- sometimes painful ones -- we would not know the glory of success In Philippians Paul speaks of his imprisonment as having “fallen out for the furtherance of the gospel.” His bad days even emboldened his brethren to speak boldly for the faith.

And so the apostle rejoiced in his suffering -- for God can do things in suffering that can be done in no other way. As disciples of Christ we believe that buried deep in every adversity is seed for good that God will bring to fruition. We are ready for the rude shock of life’s shattering blows., for we understand that this is how God fashions the soul. The back of the tapestry is in disarray with dangling threads -- a fitting metaphor for bad days -- while the front side reveals the skillful plotting of the weaver.

An anonymous poem reflects this view of life’s walk:
I walked a mile with pleasure;
She chattered all the way.
But not a thing I learned
When pleasure walked with me.
I walked a mile with sorrow;
And nary a word she said;
But oh the things I learned
When sorrow walked with me.

This does not mean that God brings on the suffering, but it does mean that God uses it as the refiner’s fire to burn out the dross and preserve the gold. Hard days can be the flail that separates the chaff from the grain. Adversity is the workshop in which God beats out the character essential for salvation. It is one of the mysteries of the wise providence of God that he shapes the soul through the sharp tool of affliction.
But David said better than I and far more succinctly:
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word. (Psalm 119:67)