My eleven-year-old son Alex had a bad day at school. He missed one of four questions on a math test at the start of the day and according to him, it went downhill from there because he was in such a foul mood after that first class. He cried, he was angry, and he didn’t truly recover all evening. I told him it was okay to chalk a day up as a bad one and be mad sometimes. The next morning, I reminded him that it was a new day, but he wasn’t having it. He said it was going to be awful just like the day before. I said that if he decided it was going to be bad before it even started, then it was pretty much guaranteed to be bad. I told him he’d been doing so great in middle school, and he said, “until now.” I encouraged him to put it behind him and approach the new day with a better perspective. He said that was not easy, but I was acting like it was simple. I agreed that it wasn’t easy and that I have a hard time with this same problem.  

In fact, I’d encountered the same issue earlier in the week. On Monday night, I’d suddenly realized that the boys’ basketball teams’ parents were responsible for operating the concession stand on Tuesday night. I’d been confused thinking the girls were also playing that night and were handling the concessions, but I was wrong. So, as the team mom tasked with arranging for that coverage, I texted the parents in a panic asking for their help. I felt unprepared, unorganized, and quite frankly, stupid. Thankfully, some parents stepped up, but their willingness to help didn’t cure my dismay. I woke up on Tuesday morning, and my first thought was how much I dreaded the day ahead. Not a great attitude and it dogged me all day, which turned out to be tough. Not because of the concessions stand, which turned out fine, but because I couldn’t shake the anxiety from the day before. I was guilty of the same thing as Alex – deciding the day would be bad from the jump.

I don’t know how to solve this problem. Perhaps acknowledging that I have this tendency is the first step in fixing it? Or I should take a moment each morning to notice if I’m fully present for the day ahead or dragging my worries into the new one. Jesus even got in on this one when he said, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matt. 6:34). And yet, I still struggle. But maybe, just maybe, I need to give myself some grace when it happens because it’s normal and not easily avoided.

Alex came home and reported that his day had been much better than the previous day. His whole demeanor was different, and he was much more at peace. He reminded me that even though it’s difficult at times, we don’t always need to carry our burdens from one day to the next. May it be so.