Bad days happen all the time –it’s just a part of life. But, when a bad day hits on a Monday it seems to feel a bit more pungent. A couple of weeks ago we had such a day. It started out normally enough–I got up, had my quiet time, and made breakfast. Then, I whistled for Barney so we could go for our morning walk. As I pushed the button to open our garage it made a strange hrump noise and didn’t budge an inch. I tried again–same noise, still no movement. I decided to just go through the front door and I texted Super Rockstar about it while I was out on my walk.
I came home to find him attempting to pry the door open without much luck. Upon investigating–we found out that one of our boys had accidently closed the garage door with Daddy’s truck tail gate still down–and then forgot to tell us. Now it was completely off kilter and both springs were broken. Terrific.
As we were waiting for the garage door repair guy to show up, I decided it would be a good time to get some house cleaning done. I had just gotten my vacuum back from the repair shop . I plugged it in and– @&#*!! –it still wasn’t working. The first attempt to repair had taken 2 weeks and now, I was faced with having to take it back to them (they’re not exactly just down the street) and wait again. Last time they gave me a loaner(which is nice)–but it was so ancient and it stunk to high heaven. I definitely was not thinking any thankful thoughts.
Later that day, Super Rockstar calls me from work. “Do you have time to talk?” I could tell instantly from the tone of his voice that this was not good. His boss had met with him and informed him that he was facing disciplinary action for something he said in a meeting 3 weeks ago that apparently offended his boss’s boss. He had NO idea what it could be. He said there had been technical difficulties (it was a Zoom video call), but he talked to everyone and no one else in the meeting had any clue what it could be–not one of them remembers him saying anything that could have even been construed as offensive. None the less–she was”very upset” and was refusing his request to meet with her so he could find out what it was and apologize. It was left hanging over his head like some sort of doomsday for an entire week.
I don’t know why days like this happen every once in a while. I wish I knew and could pass along some sage wisdom. In James 1:2 it says we’re “to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds”. I don’t know of a single person who feels joyful when tough days happen. I know I certainly don’t. I usually find myself giving God my best dead eye stare and muttering things that aren’t very nice.
The good news for us is– things got better. Yes, we had to spend some money we didn’t have. But, Super Rockstar had two gigs that week that more than paid for it. My vacuum cleaner was repaired at no cost. Yes, it was inconvenient, but the loaner they gave me this time didn’t stink (bonus). And things got resolved for Super Rockstar. He was able to meet with his accuser and is no longer facing disciplinary action. Although he is 100% convinced (and I am too) that he never said what she says he did (the only way it could be true is if he were abducted aliens and they substituted someone that looked just like him or he was momentarily possessed by a demon–it’s THAT ridiculous) but, at least he was finally given the opportunity to apologize for what she thought she heard and things have smoothed over.
Sometimes I think God just allows a few rocky days here and there because I need the reminder that He’s in control. If He is able to work out solutions for the little stuff–like a rough Monday–He is certainly more than capable of working out solutions when the big stuff hits. I only wish He didn’t feel I needed so much “practice”.