It was one of those days. As I rolled out this morning (well, yesterday as I write this), I actually thought that it would be a great day. A Superman day. You know, a tights-and-capes, leap-tall-buildings-with-a-single-bound, no-challenge-too-big-to-conquer kind of day. I’m trying to comprehend what went wrong, but can’t really put my finger on any one event. I think the beginning of the trouble must have been the running out of milk thing. Oh, and no instant breakfast, even if there had been a drop of milk in the house. Ah well, no matter…Onward and upward! There are damsels in distress to kill and horrible giants to save. Wait! That didn’t come out right. You see what happens when you don’t have a good breakfast?
I won’t bore you with the details of the day, but the best I can do is to say that the damsels didn’t want to be saved and the giants were notable in their absence. Have you ever noticed that on the really bad days, it’s not usually anything earth-shaking that causes the most disturbance? Big problems, I can tackle head-on and I know when the task is finished. It’s the insignificant issues, those little things that wouldn’t merit a second glance if they came in their proper turn to annoy you, that make your carefully ordered world come crashing down when they arrive in droves, as they tend to do so frequently.
My schedule didn’t gel as it should have, must-do jobs were interrupted by trivial phone calls (probably not so to the caller), my carefully guarded morning marred by disturbances (deliveries, repairmen, etc.), and not one objective that I needed desperately to reach was completed on time. A thirty-minute job stretched out to an hour and a half, with other deadlines looming. One repair which had been assessed by my expert eye as a “snap”, turned out to be just that, literally, with no less than three parts breaking in the process of disassembling the instrument. Indefatigable salesmen, of late a rare breed, came out of the woodwork today, undoubtedly having been apprised of the situation by Lex Luthor. Having missed my customary morning repast of milk and instant breakfast, it was entirely fitting that the full line-up of the day kept me from my lunch until almost 4:30 in the afternoon. Needless to say, my PB&J sandwich was eaten standing up
On this day, the avalanche of customers, vendors, and inanimate objects (which seemed to be imbued with life), proved to be too much for this superman. Not quite so bad as kryptonite, but more like someone standing on your cape all day long. By the middle of the afternoon, I was beaten and whining like a dog in a thunderstorm, but I persevered, running in place until the lights were turned out and the door locked against the perpetrators.
Come to think of it, I still sound like I’m whining. Any of you reading this have had equally bad days, marred by worse problems, and probably at a heavier velocity than mine. We all have them. Some of us hold up better than others, but we get through them. Better times lie ahead and we know it. This evening, the Lovely Lady agreed to a quiet meal at a local eatery and I found, as we sat and talked, enjoying each other’s company and the good food, the epic struggle of the day faded into non-importance. We’ve seen worse days and come through in fine shape.
I have to remember not to start believing my own hype. I’m not Superman and can’t leap buildings in a single bound, but neither is there any kryptonite that can cripple me. When I believe either the hype or the scare-tactics, I set myself up for an unnecessary fall. What is true and not hype at all, is that God allows us to develop skills and He gifts us in various and unique ways. All we have to do is to be faithful in using that which is given to us. Bad days and good days are guaranteed, but in the long haul, what counts is our commitment to the goal. Hang in there!
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
(1 Corinthians 4:2 NIV)