The Day after the Best Day of My Life!

Well, it was just hard to write anything yesterday, since I had just enjoyed "the best day of my life" the day before. I've noticed it can be a little challenging to stay at the very tippy top of the mountain for very long--especially when you have children. One minute you are reveling in the joy and wonder of your little ones, because they have written you a sweet note or actually cleaned up their room without you nagging them (this, theoretically, could happen) or talked to you about their day in full sentences with real, actual information or sat at the dinner table and laughed and talked for a while even after wolfing down their food or offered to clean up the kitchen (and then actually followed through and did it--completely) or been kind and encouraging to their sibling. Now, granted, these wondrous occurrences may not happen on a daily basis, but the fact that they do happen gives us such hope, such a deep seated joy that we are carried along for days... well, maybe hours... or minutes, for sure.

But, I am so convicted at how quickly I can plummet off the mountain peak and down into the "Valley of Despond" (or the Valley of Disgust or the Valley of Desperation). I don't want my joy, my contentment to be determined by whether my teenager happens to be in a good mood or by whether the house is messy or by whether the weather is crummy or by whether I am tired and am having a really bad hair day (which, for me, fortunately is never a problem since I am used to have daily bad hair days). You fill in the blank--what is it that steals your joy and your peace and your trust in Your sovereign Lord? A struggling child, a health scare, a strained relationship, a cluttered home, a fearful and unknown future, a lack of energy or finances or perspective?

Isn't it amazing how quickly we can go from a settled peace, a happy contentedness to frustration, irritation, envy, worry? And you know, I really think the bottom line for me is that when I plummet, it's because I've taken my focus off my Savior and put it squarely on my circumstances. I somehow refuse to trust that His plan is perfect in that moment, and that those annoying or disappointing or even crushing circumstances cannot possibly be for my best or that of my loved one. Ultimately, it's all a matter of refusing to trust Him, isn't' it? Selfish, prideful girl that I am, I think my way, my comfort, my desire is better and more important that Him and His ways.

This made me think of a wonderful quote by Peter Kreeft that I recently read in the book One Thousand Gifts: "No one who ever said to God, 'Thy will be done,' and meant it with all his heart, ever failed to find joy--not just in heaven, or even down the road in the future in this world, but in this world at this very moment. Every other Christian who has ever lived has found exactly the same thing in his own experience. It is an experiment that has been performed over and over again billions of times, always with the same result."

If I truly trust God and His perfect plans in every single moment of my mundane, O so daily, day, then all my plummeting will cease. Because I can know that He is in control of my teenagers and the weather and the safety and the health of loved ones and... well, everything. We cannot control how those we love will respond. But we can control how we will respond. We cannot get everything done that we need to get done... but we can do whatever He enables us to get done with the strength He has given us and trust Him with the stuff left undone. We cannot heal that illness or damaged relationship or annoying habit, but we can do whatever He calls us to do and then hand the whole mess to Him and choose to trust that He can and will do whatever we can't. We cannot protect our children or our loved ones every moment of the day, but we can entrust them to Him and trust that He who knows all and can do all, loves them far better than we ever could and that He is working and moving in their lives in ways we cannot see or know (just as He is in our lives).

So today, I am choosing to trust Him. Trust His love. Trust His plans. Trust His ways and His work. And trust, moment by mundane moment, that He will enable me to keep trusting Him even when it is hard or goes against my feelings or desires. Help us to trust, You, Lord! Help us to keep saying over and over again, "This is from You, and I trust You, Lord." Help us to trust You this day. This hour. This minute. To Him who is Worthy of all our trust, be all the glory.