“On that day it will be said, ‘ . . . This is the Lord; we have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” ’ Isaiah 25:9 (HCSB)
“This is the day the Lord has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!” I laughed and cringed when I read that on my sister-in-law’s Facebook status recently. Today I’m just cringing because I’m the one saying it. What a discombobulated day this has been.
Nothing has worked right, including my mind. I actually think my brain has set a new record for fog density. Everything I’ve touched has been a disaster, from the blender that quit, to my impatience with whining children, to not being able to string two coherent thoughts together, to bringing my son to tears with my fed-up tone, to getting a big scratch on our SUV.
This day has been too much for me. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I’ve been thinking over the update I’ll give my husband tonight, how best to phrase “Well, babe, it’s been a cotton-pickin’, rotten bugger of a challenge.” But I can’t call it a bad day. Sure, events have been bad; regrettably, I’ve acted badly at times; the scratch on the truck looks bad; the blender . . . well, that blender is just bad, bad, bad. But the day . . . bad? The day can’t be bad because the Lord made it (Psalm 118:24).
If I focus through the detritus and the brain fog, I can still see Jesus’ imprint on every moment. Watching my daughter sing while fashioning Play-Doh masterpieces. My camo-clad son racing off on an imaginary hunt. My husband’s hug and kiss. And most of all, my Jesus. My Savior, for all time and today, whose Spirit dwells in me, whose character He’s developing in me even now. Even when I prove how much my character needs His touch—how much everyone else needs him to touch my character.
Has my day been bad? Not when I see it as Jesus’ day.
Faith step: On a day like this just try saying, “Thank you, Lord.”