Have you ever had a no-good, very bad day?
In her children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, author Judith Viorst tells the tale of a little boy named Alexander. In this tale, Alexander shares a day that is not going as well as he hoped. In the words of Alexander, Viorst writes:
“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
I think we would all agree that Alexander wasn’t starting his day very pleasantly. He was, in fact, having a very bad day.
Meanwhile, we may not be starting our days with gum in our hair or soaking our sweaters in the sink, but sometimes, our days may seem a little more bad than good. To make matters worse, sometimes our no-good days may turn into no-good weeks or months if we don’t start trying to remedy the root cause of our discomfort.
In Alexander’s case, maybe he shouldn’t have fallen asleep with gum in his hair or listened to his mom and put his skateboard up instead of in the middle of the floor. But often, our trials are much more profound than misplaced toys and sticky sweets; our worries cut to the core.
How do you act if your no-good day is losing a loved one, someone who has been a constant bright spot in your life for years?
What do you do if your terrible day includes finding out that your cancer has come back after years of remission?
How do you act when you see the two pink lines on a pregnancy test only to learn days later that the pregnancy isn’t progressing?
Why can’t we just bounce back from these life-changing events?
We can’t.
The American Cancer Society explains that “It’s common for the grief process to take a year or longer. Grief most often gets less intense over time, but the sense of loss can last for decades. Certain events, mementos or memories can bring back strong emotions that usually last for a short time.”
Our mortal bodies aren’t meant to tolerate these terrible things. When issues like this arise, it can be hard to get out of bed every morning, let alone think about moving past what broke us.
But thankfully, for us, as Christians, there is hope.
One of my favorite things about Scripture is how relatable it is. Throughout its pages, we see the stories of so many people who have suffered, not only for their (or in) faith but also in their personal lives.
A character who had his fair share of bad days was the Apostle Paul.
In 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, he records a list of some of them. It says:
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure (ESV).
I imagine that if Paul didn’t have his hope in the Lord, then there would be no way that he could have survived such awful days.
In his weakness, he pressed on.
In his later writings (2 Corinthians 12:9), Paul explains why he continued and gives us a cure for our troubling days.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
None of us are exempt from suffering while on this earth. Yet, thankfully, in our weakness, we have been given something more powerful than anything this world has to offer –the strength and goodness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As hard and as awful as those moments of suffering can be, He is there. And, just as Paul shared His trials, sometimes, by sharing our own and pointing others to Christ, we can show His goodness amid our brokenness.
