You Had a Bad Day.

There are bad days. There are days when things go wrong, or everything does, pushing your heart into perpetual, erratic flight, and stirring a heavy ache that clings to your temples. There are days that you try to push through, but end up blocking out with piles of blankets as you nestle into the welcoming lap of your mattress, and sleep. Emotionally exhausted, physically spent.

But there's something else about bad days, and if we could remember it, I think we'd discover the loads we carry are impossibly light. Because here's the thing about bad days: they are ripe with opportunities for grace.

Yesterday was one of my bad days. I had been mistakenly informed that I wasn't working, when I was, resulting in a surprise call from my manager as I sat at home, still in my pajamas. I arrived at work disheveled and half an hour late. After work, as I drove home, not paying the slightest attention to my speedometer, I was pulled over and given my first ticket, which will most certainly come with a boost in insurance payment. By the time I went to bed, I felt as if someone had pulled the plug on my heart, draining every last ounce of energy from it.

But you know what else I remember about yesterday? I remember how God calmed my heart when my manager called, bringing peace in the midst of a mild panic attack as He whispered, This isn't your fault. I remember driving with my windows down, sunshine blazing down from blue sky, turning the music up loud in joyful noise as I sang the Earth is Yours. I remember sitting shakily in my car as red-and-blue lights flashed behind me, and God looked down, not with eyes of disappointment but of love, and promised, I will provide. I remember saying aloud afterward, as I drove toward downtown, "You're going to have to do better than that, demons. I'm still happy." I remember swinging at the waterfront, singing more quietly than before, You know me, and feeling God wrap His arms around me.

And as I write it all down, I realize once again what I already knew--even on the worst days, God's grace outweighs the bad. Every time. All it takes is for us to open our eyes to see it, and open our hands to receive it.