The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Really Bad Day.....

This morning I sat in my little writing cottage, in my little chair at my lovely little table and I found myself distracted to no end. First I kept seeing flashes of feathers so I had to investigate and discovered I had company for brunch, my neighbor’s rooster. He looked so sweet I thought I’d better photograph him. About twenty or so clicks later I came back in and sat back down. OK down to business but first I’d better check my email. I did and I responded to it all! Now I’ll work, but I’d better check my blog also, so I did. What is that shiny thing in the woods? I’d better go see! Like a crow after a bit of bling I shot out of my seat and down the hill, nuts, it was just a soda can! I toss it in the trash on my way back when I see Thomas, my neighbor’s cat, creeping up the hill and I go out to shoot him, with the camera silly!

OH, and there goes the mailman, I tell myself I’ll be right back to work honest I will, after I check the mail! Sophie needs a walk anyway, so off we go to the mailbox. I got the sweetest card from Denise, my Mermaid Swap partner.I managed to waste another hour and wow, noon already, lunch break! Sophie and I had lunch and flick on the TV. Aspiring Women was on so I need to sit through the entire thirty minute episode to see what neat thing God did in the life of a woman during her second battle with cancer. That’s when I made the discovery.

I have encountered yet another casualty of war that my body is having with itself. I have no tears! Now to some this might not be so tragic but I am sad none the less. They were my tears, my way of expressing myself in grief and sadness, my way of showing elation in happiness and joy, and now I don’t have any! It is truly an odd sensation to feel the sense of crying with totally dry eyes. The gland that produces my tears and saliva is not functioning properly.

I finally decided to learn my fate and read the paperwork that came with the diagnosis of this faulty piece of equipment I now posses. Well, let me tell you somethin’, I ain’t havin’ none of it, no siree Bob! That nasty little paper says that the damage is irreversible and more doom and gloom is inevitable! Well, I am not falling for that! I am choosing to believe that I can be healed or at the very least that no further damage will occur! So, I am not going waste anymore of my time on reading that rubbish!

Now, where were we? Oh yeah, I was having the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, finding out I had no tears and all, plus being wildly distracted, just like Alexander, I am contemplating moving to Australia. It is right there to my left, see on my table top, right next to the Werther’s? Fremantle looks like a nice place to live. It’s right on the coast of the Indian Ocean, or perhaps Brisbane or Toowoomba on the South Pacific side.

Some of you may not know who Alexander is so I’d better explain. He is a character in a book entitled, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. His story begins when the gum he was chewing at bedtime is caked in his hair by morning. Among his other trials: his teacher doesn’t like his drawing of an invisible castle, there is no dessert in his lunch, the dentist tells him he has a cavity, there is kissing on TV, and he has to wear his railroad train pajamas. He copes with all this angst by telling everyone he wants to move to Australia. The book closes with his mother’s assurance that everyone has bad days, even people in Australia.

Trust me, I have had worse days and I know someone who had it worse than even I, a man named David. He was being pursued and had to go into hiding fearing for his very life. He cried out to God in his distress telling God that he was feeling fearful, trembling, and horror had overwhelmed him and he wanted a way of escape. He wished for the wings like a dove, for then he could fly away and be at rest. He says he would go far off into the wilderness where he could hasten escape from the windy storm and tempest. He had no relief day or night save his sweet counsel with the Lord. He declared that he would call upon God to save him. He cast his burden upon the Lord and was sustained. He declared that he was delivered from the battle that was against him and within his own heart and emotions, and he experienced peace.

Haven't we all felt like Alexander and David, if we could just change our circumstances, our geographical location, our finances, our relationships, etc. then everything would be better! No necessarily so, as Alexander’s mother pointed out, everyone has bad days, even people who live in Australia.

On February 16, 2005, I was having a very real very terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day and these are the words I penned in my journal: “Father, so often I want to rid myself of every inconvenience and discomfort. I want to be like David in Psalm 55, to have the wings of dove, to fly away from it all and to be at rest, to run to the solitude of the wilderness, to make a hasty escape from wind and storm. How human that reaction is!”

“I want roses without any thorns.
I want breezes without any storms.
I want sunshine without scorching heat.
I want life all pleasant and sweet!

How wrong these wants and wishes be,
Shallow and selfish they make me!
Every hardship and trial provides opportunity to grow,
You will give me Your strength to keep me on the go!

Trials and testings will either increase of flatten my faith,
None of these will the Christian escape.
Your yolk is easy and Your burden is light,
If I just remember that it is to You I need to take flight!

Only when I run to You can I find peace and rest,
The shelter of Your Word is always best.
Overwhelmed definitely describes me,
To think that You love me so completely!

That You would put into Your Word a man after Your own heart,
To teach me I am not alone or set apart!
In weakness, weariness, or downcast soul,
I too can take sweet counsel and let my tears roll!

I too can cry out to You for the battle to cease,
And in Your great mercy You give me rest and peace!
I can cast my burden upon You and me You will sustain,
I praise You for You alone remain faithful, forever the same!

Quietness comes at the end of my call,
My Lord Jesus can handle trials, troubles, and all!
Upon second thought I’ll take the roses with the thorns,
They will remind me of the crown that for my sake you had worn!

I’ll take the breezes as well as the storms,
You, in the midst of them bring stillness and comfort to those who mourn!
I’ll take sunshine and scorching heat too,
I’ll walk through the fire with You at my side, like the three Hebrew!

I’ll take the pleasant and the sweet,
And be reminded that these times are a treat!
A blessing and rest from the hand of God,
Sustenance for days that are harder to trod!”

“Dear Jesus, thank You for giving me help, hope, and a hand up out of this pit I am in. I learned today that you did not come to eliminate the darkness or to explain it, but to fill it with Your presence. Please fill that dark void in my life so completely, so fully, that I will only see the light shining in the darkness, chasing the shadows away. Please hold me up for the rest of this day. May Your will be done, in Jesus name, Amen”

Maybe it is not such a terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day after all!

Keep Looking Up,
Miss Sandy