This was my Facebook status 7 years ago:
Ironically, this came on the perfect morning after one of those annoying days. You know, the days that aren’t “terrible days”, but are full of just enough “little bad” things to make you want to go to bed and try again the next day?
My family spent a relaxing weekend hanging out with my folks in Huntsville. We had a yard sale in the morning, went for an early dinner for a belated Mother’s Day, and watched for deer in the evening. Sunday, we celebrated my cousin-in-law graduate from high school. Have you ever seen the movie Elizabethtown? It’s my husband’s guilty pleasure movie-it’s such a chick flick, but he loves it. Anyway, in the movie, the lead actress takes imaginary photographs to capture memories. I had so many memorable scenes this weekend of my daughter. I notices how she enjoyed spending time with my mom,
and the way she looked at my dad, completely captivated.
She was a little version of myself. And then I sat at Caroline’s graduation wondering how Ben’s uncle was looking at his daughter as she walked across the stage. All of those memorable, imaginary photographs flooding his mind as his little girl became an adult woman with a high school diploma. I wanted to make sure that I got in all of the memories for Ellie.
It was pouring down rain outside. Ben said, “I’ll go get the car; you guys just wait under the awning. I looked down at Ellie and then back at the rain. “We’re good,” I said as we all four rain thru the rain to get to our car. We laughed and laughed once we got in the car. Ellie sighed and said, “That was the most fun I’ve ever had.” It was a great weekend.
Then, came Monday.
Ben received some bad news at school, I had eaten poor food choices so my energy level plummeted, and my afternoon was packed with “schedules”. I am in summer mode, and no where in my summer plans is the word “schedule”. We just renovated the kids’ rooms. They sparkle they are so clean! I’ve tried to keep the rest of the house clean so that it will be a home theme, but with a two year old and a four year old, the struggle is real. We got home, and the kids through their bags down in the middle of the floor. I tripped over them as I said with frustration, “I need five minutes of peace,” and went in my room. I took a few deep breaths and came back out.
To my surprise, it was super quiet. Way too quiet. I headed to the kitchen start doing dishes when I noticed a water trail from the kitchen to the coffee table in the living room. Water soaked the table, both end tables, the dining room table and the floor. “Ellianna Kay Bradford, come here!” She tip toed to me with the biggest smile,
“Has it been five minutes yet? I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Oh, I’m surprised.”
“Why do you look mad? You love it when I clean.”
And then it hit me that she was “washing” the tables for me-in a four year old way. I felt terrible that I had jumped to conclusions. I gave her a hug, told her that I loved her service, and we went to get ready for dance recital dress rehearsal. We did make up, did hair, got her costumes…all except one. Her first one. It was no where to be found. I hate crying in front of my kids, but I was on the verge of breaking. I sucked it up, and drove to the venue where I shamelessly told her teacher, I had lost the costume. She was cool and we came up with a “plan”. I dropped Ellie off in her designated room, looking completely different than all the other kids. I got back in my car, and cried. The whole way home.
When I got home, my husband was waiting in the garage with his arms open. Together, he and I found the costume just in time for me to get Ellie changed into it before the run through. By the way, the costume was safely put in the suitcase where her brother was “storing it” to take upstairs to the bonus room. “That’s mine!” He said when we grabbed it. Nothing makes a Daddy prouder than knowing his son is hiding pink dance costumes for a keepsake *rolls eyes*.
When I got to Ellie, she was having the time of her life with her friends. Bad days happen. Even little bad days. They build us up to make us strong, and break us down to teach us lessons. During all of these I-want-to-punch-a-wall moments, God provided me with comfort. He hugged me through my husband’s arms, he gave me peace through Ellie’s dance teachers calmness, he gave me reassurance through my sister-in-law’s text of Ellie’s joy playing with her friend.
When bad things happen, it’s okay to ask why. It’s okay to search through the mission field for the goal. While you’re searching, look for the comfort God’s placing all around for you. When you shave your legs, it doesn’t hurt. The blade is sharp, but it’s necessary to get the job done. The smooth part is directly behind the blade to ease and comfort so you don’t feel the pain. It’s a nifty little invention. We must endure bad days to inherit strength for our mission, but there is always Strength when we are weak.
Seven years ago, we prayed to be “settled”. We wanted to know where we were going to live, go to church, how many kids we’d have…start being in a routine. Praise God, he provided all of our desires to us today-we’re living out our answered prayer. We had a TON of obstacles to jump through to get to this point, but we completed those missions then to end up where we are today. We will continue to push through the bad times to carry out our future works.
I will be in prayer for you this week about bad days that may come your way. I pray that you will find the comfort immediately following the blades of bad days. Amen.
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