The Brilliant Beauty In Bad Days

Bad days often leave you feeling sad, discouraged, and hopeless. You may even feel like you want to quit!

What makes for a day bad for you? It’s different for everyone. A day might go south after a series of interruptions, getting stuck with a project and not making the progress you were counting on, or having a painful interaction with someone.

Most days start out well, but then something occurs and even seemingly easy tasks suddenly feel extra hard!

Wouldn’t it be nice if every day was smooth sailing? Ever thought about what that ideal day would look like for you?

An Ideal Day

For me, an ideal day starts with my happy morning routine. It would include a happy combination of coaching, creating, blissfully crossing items off my to do list, squeezing in a happy chat with someone dear, a little time with my nose in a book, with plenty of time to whip up a delightful dinner to enjoy with my husband.

That would all add up to a delightful, nearly perfect day.

Most days aren’t perfect, but they are pretty good! At my house, pretty good is very close to the highest form of praise!

Bad Days…

When I do have a bad day, I feel trapped in Alexander’s world – you know, Alexander from the children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. His day started out on a terrible foot when he woke up with gum in his hair. The unfortunate moments didn’t stop there. His best friend left him, there was no dessert in his lunch bag, and on and on.

Ever feel that way?

I remember a day very similar to Alexander’s. My printer stopped working, there were serious snags with a project I was working on, and to top things off that evening, when I went to relax after all the frustration that day my TV wouldn’t work properly! Not exactly gum in my hair – but almost!

Recently I had bad day that turned into a bad week – just being real! It felt like life had suddenly become a swamp! Everything felt like a struggle. Distractions clouded my perspective and motivation went out the window!

I bet you’ve had days, weeks, or maybe even months like that too!

Observations

I’ve made a few observations when it comes to my bad days including…

• The more I want to be in control, the more likely it is that I’ll have a bad day.
• My days are more prone to be bad ones when I don’t spend time with God.
• At the root of my bad days are funky thoughts, beliefs, or mindsets.
• There might be something I’m choosing not to accept.
• I struggle to see the good things God might be up to.

Hard days or seasons are reminders to accept what is – what you don’t have control over. And an invitation to make some happy changes – perhaps much needed happy changes! They are a barometer for the condition of my heart!

Days that seem “terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad” aren’t easy, and at the same time God doesn’t change! He doesn’t love me less on bad days. He is still “working all things for good” in my life on bad days! He is still in control (even when I think I am) and He is more than capable of transforming the worst days into beautiful days!

When I cling to Him, I can relax knowing that I will come out on the other side more like Him… IF I allow Him to work in me.

The next time you face one of those bad moments, days, or weeks, before you slip into despair ask yourself…

1. What Do I Need To Accept?

Your natural Inclination might be to buck up and press on despite the difficulties in your day. After all, isn’t that what having grit is all about?

There’s tremendous power in acknowledging what is, accepting it, and then moving forward in the best way. Ignoring or choosing to numb how you feel never makes those feelings go away! They intensify and potentially leak out in ways that continue to unravel your day!

Sometimes pushing harder isn’t the answer, and accepting and trying softer is.

2. How Do I See God?

Difficult days point out your need for God and that’s a beautiful thing! Rather than facing a rough day on your own, bad days are an invitation to surrender and rely more on Him.

The question that springs to mind in hard moments is often “Why? Why is this happening” but this is an unproductive question! It makes me think of young kids who incessantly ask why and, but you and I aren’t kids anymore!

The real question is: how do you see God? Do you believe that He has your best in mind? That He is All-Powerful and more than capable? That He can show up in your life in incredible ways? In your eyes, is He trustworthy, faithful, kind, loving, and near?

How you see God influences everything, including your bad days!

3. What Am I Telling Myself?

Words are exceedingly powerful – especially the words that surface on “those bad days”. Oh, you might not say anything out loud, but the words you are whispering in your head are negatively influencing you.

It has been said that “talk is cheap,” but that’s a lie! Your words have the potential to cost you dearly! That’s why it’s important to slow down, tune in, and take the time to consider the chatter in the background of your mind. Then take your thoughts captive like scripture reminds you to:

…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5b (NIV)

Your words reveal so much!  When you are complaining you are sharing your fears. Your excuses uncover your doubts. And then there are the many limiting beliefs that might be rattling around in your head not to mention the lies that your Fear Monster keeps shouting!

Bad days bring those ugly thoughts to the forefront so that you can do something about them!

4. What’s The Truth?

Once you’ve identified the negative self-talk, unless you replace it with something else, more negativity will creep in. It’s like pulling “heart weeds” but not planting something else in its place. It won’t take long for the weeds to spring back to life!

One of the perks to being in the Word every day is filling your mind with Truth! But Truth easily slips away. It’s helpful to keep truth in front of you where you will see it throughout your day. Memorizing key scriptures is a fantastic way of planting truth in your heart. Surrounding yourself with worship music based on scripture is another happy way to stay rooted in Truth.

5. What Needs to Change?

It’s tempting to focus on all the ways others need to change in difficult moments or how you wish your circumstances were different. Rather than focusing on the externals, what if you were to focus on the internal – what’s going on inside of you?

Perhaps there are adjustments that need to be made that would better set you up for future difficulties that are sure to come your way. Here are a few potential areas worth exploring that might need a little tweaking:

• • • Expectations
    • Habits
    • Priorities
    • Reactions
    • Mindsets, beliefs, or thoughts
    • Letting go of _______________.

Difficulties have a way of highlighting the changes that are needed and that’s not a bad thing!

6. What’s The First Step to Getting Back On Track?

Bad days expose areas of my life that need work. If I wallow in my bad day (and sometimes I do) I remain stuck. But if I recognize what the bad day is trying to show me and then take action, it’s a brilliant, beautiful thing!

Unless you do something different, you will remain in the swamp of a bad day! What next step might you need to take even if it’s a small step?

An Enemy Of Good Days

Another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is in my future – most likely there’s one in yours too. There’s an enemy who would love nothing more than to get you down in the dumps because in that place, walking in who God created you to be is probably not happening.

The enemy’s aim is to dash your dreams and discourage you from moving in all that God has for you.

My response to bad days reveals so much! It gauges my level of confidence and trust in Him and they highlight changes that need to be made in me.

How will you lean into the beauty of those bad days?

© Can Stock Photo / bogdanbrasoveanu

Originally posted on 2/6/18, this post has been updated and revised just for you!