“You looked better when you left.” Bad days happen. My husband is usually encouraging and supportive, but these were the words that came out of his mouth when I arrived home. He was right. It was a bad haircut. My hair has been a challenge all of my life. The person who regularly cuts it usually does an acceptable job, considering what she has to work with. This time however, I don’t know whether she was having a bad day, or if I just failed to communicate clearly what I wanted. Either way, the result was not to my liking. Nor to my husband’s.
To the stylist’s credit, there is one side of my head that has suddenly decided to develop a curl. She cut my hair shorter to try to compensate for the unruly curl. To me, it was just too short. There was nothing I could do about it but endure patiently until it grew out a bit. Or wear a hat.
A bad haircut is little more than a temporary inconvenience. In the grand scheme of things, it is a momentary annoyance. Life is full of trials. Bad days happen. Some of them, though troublesome, are really quite insignificant. Others are much heavier. They weigh us down and drain our strength. They challenge our cheerfulness. Often there is nothing we can do about them but continue to navigate life the best we can in spite of them.
The Bible counsels us to be joyful when various troubles come our way, because these troubles test our faith and will teach us patience (James 1:2-3). We can have joy with our troubles because they produce patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope–and this hope will never disappoint us because God has poured out His love to fill our hearts (Romans 5:3-5 NCV).
I have to be honest. When trouble comes, whether in the form of a minor irritation or a life-threatening illness, my first response is not joy. I don’t enjoy the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything to make the situation better. Sometimes there are things we can do, but much of life is out of our control. Accidents happen that we could not prevent. Illnesses come despite our efforts to live in healthy ways. We live in a broken world, and trouble is one of the unavoidable by-products.
Jesus promised us we would encounter trouble in this life. There would be bad days. He also assured us He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Whatever happens to us in this life, we do not go through it alone. When we put our faith in Him. He walks through life with us. Nothing surprises Him, and whether a major or a minor problem, we can trust Him through it. The problems of this life are shaping our characters to prepare us for the eternal life that lays ahead of us. Everything in this life pales in comparison to that. Our hope is in Jesus, in His character, and in His eternal plan.
I can’t even imagine what the glories of heaven will be like when we actually experience them. But one thing I know for certain. There will be no bad hair days.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT
How has God carried you through some “bad” days? Please leave a comment below.
Blessings,
Phyllis
Copyright 2024 Phyllis L. Farringer
Image by Luan Luan Rezende from Pixabay
Thank you for your post, Phyllis. I’m grateful God helps me every second, and through every “trouble”.
We can count on that, Joni. Thank you for reading and commenting.