2nd Best Day Ever

It was an ordinary Sunday.  I woke up at the crack of dawn with the baby.  We spent some time together downstairs before the rest of my family woke up.  I drank my cup of coffee.  But today, the busyness of the week and the accumulated lack of sleep had caught up to me, and pure exhaustion had set in.  I was done.  I was grumpy and already snapping at people.  I was annoyed at my husband for not understanding how tired I was.  The voices and demands of kids (sweet as they may be), a crying baby (already ready for a nap), a persistent headache, and just that general run-down feeling had me ready to throw in the towel by 9am.

And so, I did.

I went upstairs to put the baby to sleep, grabbed a pillow and a blanket, and then I did something that I’m embarrassed to tell you about- I HID in my closet. Ya’ll I hid under the clothes in my closet so I could sleep without someone waking me up.   After a few minutes, I heard my girls looking for me, but my hiding place turned out to be pretty good.  A few minutes later, the closet door opened again, and this time it was my husband.  He wasn’t fooled by my secret hideout, but praise the Lord for his graciousness because he quietly closed the door and walked away.  And I slept. I slept so long we missed church (And I love church).  When I finally emerged I felt so guilty.  I had hidden from my family!  Who does that?  What grown person HIDES in the floor of her closet to sleep and ignores her family?!?!  Ugh.  Can I just get a do-over on this day? But even as I started to chide myself for being so selfish, I realized that I did get a do-over.  My do-over started the moment I opened my eyes.  I could chose to re-start my day (now closer to noon…) with a smile and a hug and another cup of coffee of course.

I could have wallowed in my guilt about hiding in the closet and missing church on top of it, but instead I chose to start fresh and redeem the day.  I chose to make that nap serve a purpose.  As I sat on the back porch swing with my girls they asked if they could run outside in the sprinklers.  Normally, this would have quickly elicited a big, fat “NO” from me, but today I chose to say “YES.”  They were kind of in disbelief at first, but they quickly ran to their rooms to get their swimsuits on.   As I saw their excitement build I decided to put on my bathing suit and join them.  What the heck!?!  I had taken a nap and had tons of renewed energy! LOL  Even my husband joined in, and before you knew it all of us were running in the sprinklers and sliding down the slide into the blowup kiddie pool – for hours! My oldest daughter told me that it was the 2nd best day of her life (the 1st being when she was knocked over by a wave in the ocean – silly kid). She kept telling me over and over how much fun the day was and how much she loved our “family fun day.”

Later that evening as I sat on the swing with her, my husband and I were discussing the decision to attend our weekly life group that evening or meet my family about an hour and half away for dinner for my sister’s birthday.  As we were contemplating it, my 6-year-old says to me: “Mommy, I think we should go to her birthday.  God wants us to learn about Him at life group, but He also made our family and wants us to spend time with them. Both things are good, but she only has a birthday one time a year, so I think it’s ok if we miss group and go with our family.”  Did I mention she is six? I just stared at her and them smiled.  Wisdom from the mouth of babes.  I realized in that moment a few things:

1.  I’m so thankful that I serve a God who gives 2nd, 3rd, and 100th chances.  I’m so grateful for a God that removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).  I’m so thankful for a God who forgives us as many times as we seek forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and gives us do-overs.
2. I’m thankful for children who are getting it.  Despite our parenting failures, some of the things we are trying to instill in them are sticking.
3. Sometimes the choices we are presented with are between two good things.  Neither are wrong.  (Like going to life group or going to a birthday party)  God isn’t judging you based on your decision.  God is the author and giver of all good things (James 1:17). When you have a choice between two of them, choose the one you want.  It’s all good.
4. I could have posted some fun family photos of us playing the backyard and no one would have ever known how my day actually started with me hiding in my closet.  So as you scroll through social media and see all the smiling faces, don’t feel like a failure.  You don’t know the story behind the photo.  Some of those moms with smiling faces and smiling kids had a bad morning just like you.  Don’t be discouraged, because just like them, you have the choice to turn your day around too.
5. I know that this day will be one that my girls remember for a long time.   They will remember our family fun day in the sprinklers and on the slide.  They will remember the time we spent together laughing and playing and being together – all five of us.  What they won’t remember is that Mommy took a nap in the closet first. What started out as a really crummy day ended up as my kids’ 2nd best day ever! I’m so thankful for do-overs, re-dos, opportunities to redeem the day, fresh starts, new beginnings, second chances.   Just because you had a bad moment, a bad morning, or even a bad day – it doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause.  You can turn it around with the choices you make next. 
6. Sometimes the way to turn things around involves saying “yes” more – like saying yes to the sprinklers; but sometimes, the way to turn things around involves saying “no” more – like saying “no” to group for one day.   Our lives are so “full” of things we do, places we go, chores to be done, that we don’t enjoy our families.  We don’t take the time to be or the time to inhale the moment. It’s ok to say “no” to doing andstart saying “yes” to being.

Maybe – just maybe – if I stopped “doing” so much so often I would have less need for do-overs and fewer days that start like this one did with me needing to hide in my closet. But inevitably these days will come, and I may need to “hide in the closet.” At least now I know that I can still make those days the 2nd best days ever. The day’s not over until it’s over:)

Excerpt from Awaken by Priscilla Shirer regarding Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33) – an evil king that humbled himself before the Lord:

After such bountiful restoration, Manassah received his kingdom back, and the remainder of his life looked a whole lot different than the first […] It’s never too late, and you are never too far gone, to receive the restoring power of the One who loves you.