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PROGRAM D-7601
Have you ever had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Who hasn’t! Let’s talk about how we grapple with those days when everything’s wrong and nothin’ ain’t right!
There’s a children’s book by Judith Viorst entitled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and I think it’s the best description ever of one of those days.
Let’s read the first part of Alexander’s day:
“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.”
The first thing I notice about Alexander’s bad day is that it started off poorly. Right from the moment he woke up, things were bad: gum in his hair, tripped on his skateboard, got his sweater wet. You know, when your day starts off with a series of small disasters, it really can be downhill from there.
Let me offer a few suggestions about dealing with the early-morning disasters. First, make sure you give yourself enough time in the morning so that you’re not always in a panic trying to get going. If you wait until the very last second to put your feet on the floor and something goes wrong, you don’t have time to deal with it. You may be surprised how much easier life is simply by getting up a bit earlier each day.
Then, you need to make certain you have time with the Lord every morning. You may have convinced yourself you’re not a morning person so you just can’t get up any earlier, but of course, that’s not true, is it? Spend some early time with God, before your day begins; it sets the tone for the whole day.
David wrote in Psalm 90: “Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love, that I may sing for joy and be glad all day long.” If you consistently spend adequate time with God early in your day, you will find that the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days are much fewer and further between.