We all have bad days. Days which are difficult and often bad through and through too, as if to add to it all. We have days when we are out of sorts with everything and maybe even, everyone! We are grouchy, snappy, short tempered, sore and nothing goes well or correctly. Now it might be down to illness or tiredness, grief, but our anger/ frustration comes from ourselves. We might well react to comments etc made by others, it might be righteous anger we exhibit, as in The Black Lives Matter movement, but although we lash out at others, the institution, the real issue is with ourselves.
I recall one rather pompous priest, a bit too full of himself and his holy ardour and one very liberal Reader, who had a heated discussion after worship about the nature of God. It became so heated and nasty that there were almost fistycuffs and the Church Warden had to physically separate them and remove them outside the Church. Neither behaved well and neither were correct in their deliberations. Both had thought too much of themselves and insufficiently of the other. They had caused a furore in public and one that could have just been a mild disagreement. Yes a bad day indeed!
When we have had a bad day do we examine ourselves and how we have behaved? Either because we have retreated into ourselves and failed to engage with anyone or anything? Do we take out our feeling by banging things about or do we shout or challenge aggressively and certainly in a rude manner. I know for myself I tend to retreat and some alone self time can often work, but sometimes I need to grasp the nettle, so to speak. What do you do? More importantly does that action actually help you?
Sometimes a bad day isn't about us loosing our cool, but rather about everything seemingly going against what we had hoped for etc. You know the way, one morning the washing machine breaks down mid-cycle with your best top in it, then the dog is sick on the floor you have just washed, that parcel doesn't arrive in the post, you burn tea and you cant get hold of someone on the phone that we must speak with, and so on. We all experience it from time to time and, at best, it can be waring or test the patience of a saint. We climb into bed that night feeling, that nothing went right and oh, what a day! Some days are a bit like that - a bit of a disaster and in the light of more serious things in the world and with our friends and loved ones, we feel cross with ourselves for allowing things to get on top of us. Do you occasionally know that feeling when you have one of those days? It is still down to us, how we react to things, why we feel as we do .
Now all of this is natural and normal and happens for many reasons, but it is about our wellbeing, our ability to know ourselves and decipher information as we do usually, toss the rubbish, so to speak, in the bin and be open about how we feel. To remember that none of us are perfect and we all can have little flips; it is about being human, but moreover that we can learn to take charge of our life and often our situations. Nobody can help ill health and alas it does happen and can really impact on things, but our attitude towards it can change and we can seek help and advice.
Jesus understood anger and we remember he was angry himself. However he knew how anger as an emotion is quite natural and normal, but the answer is to deal with those feelings of contempt, interpersonal conflict, anger, lack of patience and so on by reacting to it and instead of being as bad or matching the emotion, to forgive, try and work through the issue together. So remembering it is down to us not to respond with unkindness, but love, to not say "it's not fair," but question what can we do to make it fair or at least more fair. How can I support this person, this community in a real way, to make a difference and to show my support and respect for them as individuals or communities. How can I extricate myself from this mess? Would a phone call help? A chat over a cuppa? Or a bunch of flowers left on the doorstep to say I do care. Of course, we should pray, but it does take personal action as well, for us and for others.
I hope this is a good day for you and for those you love.
Comments