A prayer for the wrong day

I had the wrong day. All day. There are weeks where Wednesday and Thursday are somewhat interchangeable. But this was not one of them. I sent the wrong kid to school with a note to stay after on the wrong day. I took the wrong kid to the dentist appointment, drove the wrong way to basketball practice and even put the wrong dinner in the crockpot, which I also forgot to turn on. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Yeah. One of those days.

And every time I realized my mistake I wanted to run and hide. I mean, seriously. One job. Remember what day it is. Take the right kid to the right place at the right time. It’s not that hard.

Ever had one of those days? A wrong one? A day where you wanted to ask God for a “do-over”. I tend to think that God wants nothing to do with me when I have days like that. I just imagine him shaking his holy head at me.

Seriously, Leigh, how hard can it be to remember what day it is? There are people in the world dealing with horrible tragedies and all you have to do is drive the right direction and remember to turn on the chicken. What is your problem?

And so, like Eve in the garden with the evidence of my mistake right in my hand, I try to hide from my Creator when the day goes sideways. I don’t let him into the mess. He won’t want to see all of this, I think. He can’t work here. It’s all up to me to just get this right; to fix these days.

There is this quote from Dallas Willard’s book Divine Conspiracy, and it is taped right to the corner of my desk.  “First we must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in as the place of God’s kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.” 

I put it there for days like this one.  Because sometimes I don’t like where I actually am. Sometimes I want to create this fairytale of perfection and that is the life I want to let God into. But. Willard’s words remind me — God wants the mess. He wants the wrong day, the raw chicken, the cranky kids and the misdirected me. The actual circumstances of my life. He wants to hold them all; not shake his holy head at my ineptness.

So where are you today? Are the circumstances in which you constantly find yourself not exactly like you think they should be? Are you waiting until you get them all just right before you pray over them or even think about God? Does that ever happen?

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). This day. The one I thought was tomorrow, the one with the never-ending list of to-do’s that will still be there when the sun sets, the one with the squabbling kids and the sticky kitchen floor, the one piled high with all of the mistakes and mess. This. Is. The. Day. The. Lord. Has. Made. What if I really believed that?

Lord,

Be real today. Be present in the mistakes that I make. Be constant in the chaos that will surely come. You made this day. Help me see that the blessing in today is not found in my perfect plan but simply in your presence with me. Keep me grounded in the reality of where I am and remind me that your feet walk these paths with me. Even the pathways that lead to wrong days; you walk those too. And you are making me yours in each moment of these days. Help me see it, Lord.

I whisper this prayer into this wrong day. And here’s what I am learning. It might not make me remember what day it is. It is not a magic spell. It will not fix all the things.  But. It will help me remember whose day it is. And that will make all the difference.

But just in case you need to know? It’s Thursday. All. Day.

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”