Sara Ella

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Truth for Today ~ Tuesdays don’t have to be terrible

“I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
From Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Photo Source: bookweb.org

 

It’s Monday night and I cringe as I think of the day that lies before me. It’s Tuesday and, like Alexander in from the classic children’s book, I can already see that Tuesday is going to be just terrible. That’s it. I’ve decided. As the day I dread waits in the wings, I think of all I have to do, all that I know I won’t get done, and how exhausted I will be at the end of the day.

 

Let me break it down for you.
Tuesday morning I get up earlier than usual so that I can have just a little time to myself before the day unfolds. I drag myself out of bed ever so carefully so as not to wake the sleeping baby who has inevitably ended up in my bed again. I throw on my robe, tip toe down stairs, and flip on my favorite funky lamp. I start the coffee going and grab my Bible, knowing that the bad attitude in me that has already started to form needs a good dose of scripture to set me on the right path for the day. I flip my Bible open and, as if on cue, my 5-month-old begins to cry. I rush upstairs, hoping against hope that she hasn’t awakened my 4-year-old too, but of course she has.

 

No Bible and coffee time for me anymore. This puts me in a bad mood, a worse mood, as I rush around frantically trying to get the girls bundled for our weekly walk with the neighborhood gals. The walk takes an hour and afterward I am sweaty and exhausted. The rest of the morning is a frenzy as I try to fit homeschool in between the walk, breakfast and then story time at the library which also happens to be on Tuesday.

 

Story time lasts a half hour and I leave with one more child than I came with. I take my girl,s plus the one I tend, home and rush around trying to get them fed along with my baby girl and my husband who has just walked through the door. It is now one o’clock and I realize I haven’t eaten a single thing all day, nor have I bothered to drink any water. Who has time for that? No wonder I have a headache.

 

Before I know it, it’s a quarter to four and I am rushing to get my daughter dressed and ready for ballet, hair perfectly in place, trying at the same time to make sure I have all the library books that are due at the other library we go to on Tuesdays (because it’s on the way to dance class, of course). I also need my shopping list (because it’s the one day a week I am near a Wal-mart), pajamas and snacks for the girls, the diaper bag, checks to deposit (because the bank is also on the way), and a number of other miscellaneous items I can’t do without for the few hours we are in Ephraim (which is thirty minutes away from my house).

 

On the way, we stop by our other library, rushing again because we only have fifteen minutes to be in and out and goodness knows it always takes longer than that. Then I deposit the checks and head to drop my daughter at dance. We pile out of the car, my 4-year-olds hand in one hand and the car seat in the other. I wave good-bye and run back to the car because I only have 50 minutes to grab that much needed cup of coffee and to do the grocery shopping for the week. By this point my baby girl is screaming because she needs to nurse, so I sit in the Wal-mart parking lot trying to nurse her in the back seat of my van, counting the minutes I no longer have to get the groceries I need.

 

Before I know it, it is 5:20 and I need to pick my daughter up from dance. From dance we head to my dear friend’s house who is the most hospitable person in the world because she puts up with me every week. She feeds me and gives me a place to nurse and rest before Bible Study, which is at 6:30. The first hour of Bible Study is often spent in my car, trying to get my 5 month old to stop screaming. I don’t know why she is screaming, only that nothing is consoling her. By the time I make it back inside I only have time to hear the very last part of the discussion before I am headed back home on the dark, deer infested roads.

 

 

And that’s Tuesday. The day I have come to hate. But wait a minute, if I hate it so much, why do I bother? Why do I continue to add things to my list that just end up burning me out? Why don’t I do away with the whole awful day?

 

 

It’s so I can see my 4-year-old jump up and down when she knows we are going walking with the “girls”.

 

It’s so I can start my morning with easy conversations with some friends while I fit some much needed exercise in.

 

It’s so I can watch the look on my girl’s faces as they interact with our librarian as she reads, plays, and sings with them.

 

It’s so we can pick out even more books and movies to enjoy at the other library that has more to offer.

 

 

It’s so I can watch my daughter’s face light up the minute she walks onto that dance floor.

 

It’s so I can see the smiles on the faces of the kids at the coffee shop; all of them know me and welcome me and make me feel like I belong. Like this is my home.

 

 

 

It’s so I can get better prices and save money at Wal-mart, because let’s face it, their prices are just better.

 

It’s so I can have a breath of fresh air when I see the smile on my friend’s face when we arrive for dinner. So I can talk and laugh with her and enjoy her company while my oldest child plays with her boys.

 

It’s so, even if I don’t get to hear the whole discussion, I can see my other friends for a few minutes and talk and laugh with them too. There’s just enough time for hugs and a few prayer requests but it’s just what I need to make it through the rest of the week.

 

It’s so I can see the relief on my husband’s face when we make it home without killing any deer and so I can hear him say “I missed you”, even though we were only gone for a few hours.

 

This is why I do Tuesdays and the truth is, Tuesday doesn’t have to be horrible. I can choose to look forward to Tuesdays and change my perspective. So I think I’ll do just that because we are told to :

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 (NIV)

 

I love the way The Message words this verse. I don’t refer to this version much, but today I think it’s fitting. It says:

 

 

 

“Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!”

 

How appropriate! Instead of sulking and complaining about my horrible Tuesday I could be and SHOULD be reveling in my Creator. At how amazing He is and all that He has blessed me with. I think the reason Paul repeats the word “rejoice” is simply because sometimes we need to be told something more than once to really get it—I know I do. So as Tuesday prepares to take center stage I will pray and ask God that He will fill my heart with joy; that I would rejoice and revel in Him, Tuesday and everyday!

 

 

How about you? What is your “Tuesday” and how can you rejoice in it?

 

 

As always, I love hearing your thoughts and insights. Oh, and don’t forget that the Harvest Book Library Giveaway ends this Friday so be sure to enter here.

 

 

 

Until then, Happy Reading!

 

Yours in Christ,

 

S

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