Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

I remember when I was in middle school and we had speech competitions. I always thought it was about who could memorize the speech best, but it was really about who could recite them with the best inflections. I remember memorizing “Casey at the Bat” and “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. Casey struck out and nothing went Alexander’s way. From the moment he got up with gum in his hair until his family had Lima beans for dinner, everything went wrong. At the end of the day, his mom reminded him that everyone has bad days.

She was right, we all have bad days. Sometimes they seem to overshadow any good days that we’ve had. Sometimes it’s just one bad day after another. Before we know it, we can’t remember the last time we saw a ray of sunshine. We begin to lose hope and consider giving up that life will ever get better. Just like seasons, bad times change. They can’t stick around forever. If they begin to feel like it, we need to change what we are doing. People always say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Changing routines, friends, jobs or locations can often get us out of the rut.

When I’ve had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I first turn to Romans 5:3-5. It says, “There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (MSG)”

We need to continue to shout praises to God on the bad days. We need to recognize that God uses those days and circumstances like sandpaper in our lives. He smooths out the rough edges and develops passionate patience in us that makes us strong. God doesn’t leave us feeling shortchanged it says. Those bad days are getting us prepared to receive blessings into our lives that we can’t contain! The NLT says this hope will not lead us to disappointment. Even when everything else has been a disappointment, we can always trust that what God is doing in us and for us never will. Hang in there, God is doing something great.