Do you ever have a bad day?

Terry Walton reflects on something we all experience: a bad day. Inspired by the familiar idea of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Terry considers those days when nothing seems to go right—and how a little faith, perspective, and grace can help us remember that a bad day is just that: a day. Not the whole story.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

For generations, North Georgians have turned to WDUN for local news, local voices, and trusted conversations. Now join Reverend Dr. Terry Walton as each career's reflections on faith, family, and the moments that shape our lives. Inspired by years of ministry and the writings of Monday Memo, each week offers wisdom, encouragement, and practical lessons for everyday living. This is Sunday morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton on North Georgia's News Talk, WDUN.

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Good morning, friends. Welcome to Sunday morning. This is Terry Walton, and it certainly is my privilege to have you with us on this Sunday morning. I hope your first day of the week is starting out in a wonderful, wonderful way. Listen, I was thinking, have you ever had a bad day? Have you ever caused someone else to have a bad day? Both are no fun to share the bad day itis with someone else. That uh really stinks when it happens. Toward the end of a month a while back, um I uh rear-ended a young girl's automobile. Of course, I didn't mean to crash into her bumper and put her in line for a new automobile trunk, but I looked left to turn right and assumed she was accelerating forward when she was still sitting there in a stopped position. My bad day were shared with her and her grandmother. I felt terrible. Have you ever been there? I I soon learned it was a car given to her by her grandparents when she graduated from high school. Well, I felt even worse. The Georgia State Patrol officer was kind and gentle with this in a hurry preacher, and I received my citation and both of us drove into the rest of our day. And absolutely it could have been worse, but it was still a bad moment, a bad day. And my bad day became their bad day as well. It's true, isn't it? Accidents happen, but when they do, there's this feeling of oh, if only I could reverse time and keep this from happening. Let's turn that around. Have you ever had a good day? Have you ever caused someone else to have a good day? Both are glorious, but to share good day itis with someone else is great fun. Jesus is recorded to have shared in Luke's gospel, Dr. Luke, I like to call him, he says, Jesus said, Give and it will be given back to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give is the measure you will get back. Jesus was talking in that context about judging others, condemning others, forgiving others. All are merciful offerings that are often that often counterintuitive in the heat of a difficult moment, yet when given, when in the earthly terms other responses are well deserved. There's a blessing that follows. You have a good day, and you've shared a good day with another. Which leads me to this question. Have you ever had a bad day and decided you were not going to share bad day itis with someone else? Now let me just say for this old boy, that's a challenge. I'm guilty of having a bad day, and then out of frustration I've fallen into what's called the kick the dog syndrome. While I don't literally kick my dog, I snap at my wife and curt with a neighbor, speak rudely to a grocery cashier, blow my horn angrily in traffic, or worst of all, play the passive aggressive game of pouting, having those who care for me to attempt to guess my neediness. Does any of this describe you? Life is real for all of us, isn't it? There are good days and there are bad days. We do not live on an island by ourselves, therefore we are impacted by and impact others. That infamous golden rule crosses thousands of years and crosses several religions. Jesus knew it and wanted to make certain that others knew it as well. Treat people in the same way you want to be treated. Why is that so difficult? Well, I think because we all struggle with the human condition of sin, which at its core is selfishness, self-centeredness, narcissism, conceit, and the list goes on. It was the Apostle Paul. You've heard of him, haven't you, in the New Testament? He's the one that allowed for the good news of the resurrection of Jesus to spread beyond just the Jewish world into the Gentile world. He said to the young Christians in Rome, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. It's radical today and it was radical in Paul's day to live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty. Do not claim to be wiser than you are, in my mother's words. In other words, don't try to be a smarty pants. Do not repay evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it's possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceable with all. That's found in Romans chapter twelve, verses sixteen and following. All our days, listen, all our days are filled with opportunities to help others have a good day. All our days are filled with chances to be a positive witness for a of a greater than human love. All our days, some good, some bad, are windows for others to see into our soul. I pray that on that day, when I plowed into the back of a young lady's automobile, somehow, some way maybe I offered some grace amid disappointment. I hope so. Accidents happen. And when they occur, they can't be reversed. But God can use anything for God's purposes. This I believe with all of my heart. That's the kind of thing that I'm always thinking. If you'd like more of those kind of thoughts, the book Monday Memo, a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family, is available through Mondaymemo.org. Um and I just kind of share some of my heart. I wanted to kind of carry that thought a little further though today. Have you have you heard about the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Judith Virst wrote that book in 1972. It's a wonderful children's book, but it kind of speaks to this bad day itis as well. The plot of the book is that Alexander is a young boy who endures a string of misfortunes throughout his day, starting when he wakes up with gum in his hair. His older brothers find prizes in their cereal boxes while Alexander does not. In the carpool on the way to school, Alexander does not get a window seat. At school, Alexander faces criticism from his teacher. His best friend replaces him with two other friends, and he finds that his mother neglected to put dessert in his lunch bag. When school is over for Alexander, a dentist appointment reveals a cavity in Alexander's mouth. At the shoe store, he's only allowed to buy plain white sneakers. And when the family goes to pick up Alexander's father from his office, Alexander's restless behavior makes the father request not to be picked up anymore. And back at home, Alexander served lima beans for dinner. He sees kissing on TV and is made to sleep in train themed pajamas, of which he hates. I want to tell you about another bad day. It's in the Gospel of Matthew. You may or may not have heard of Jesus' feeding of the five thousand, feeding of the multitudes. Well, in Matthew's gospel, that first gospel in the New Testament, you know, the Bible's in two sections. The first section is the Old Testament, the second section is the New Testament, and Matthew, one of Jesus' disciples, is the first gospel, at least as it is printed. And there as we get to this story of the feeding of the multitudes, we forget what happened right before. Just before, two things happen. One is Jesus goes to his hometown and he's rejected. He's turned away. He has those who saw him grow up get angry at him and they almost throw him off a cliff. They're so angry with him. And from there, according to Matthew's chronology, he hears about his cousin, his close friend John the Baptist, we know him as the John the Baptizer. He gets word that his dear, dear cousin has been murdered, has been beheaded for political and selfish reasons. And Jesus is overcome by this, gets in a boat and goes off to a quiet place. Now I know in another place in the scripture, in John's gospel, it talks about the only place that Jesus wept, but I have to believe he did some weeping. I have to believe he went away to grieve. I have to believe he was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad moment in his life. And as he goes away to this quiet place, the gospel writer says the folks saw him and they followed him on foot. So he's in the Sea of Galilee or the Tiberius Lake, and they're following along the shore where he's going. He's had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And these people, Matthew says 5,000 plus men and women, historical scholars believe there were anywhere from twelve to twenty thousand people there, hurting, wanting to be touched by this man they've been hearing about who was healing and changing people's lives. And here he is trying to grieve and trying to get through his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. But life keeps living, doesn't it? It doesn't stop for our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. When we have accidents, when we have bad moments, life keeps moving. And it did for Jesus too. And out of his deep compassion, that's the word used in the text, out of his deep compassion for people. Jesus saw their faces and saw their needs, healed their sick. And as the day was moving into sunset, the disciples kind of reminded him we probably need to dismiss this crowd so they can go into their villages to get food and lodging. And it's interesting what Jesus does there in Matthew's gospel. Jesus says, No, let's not do that. Why don't you feed them? Can you imagine how they were stunned? Us feed them? What what do you mean? All we have is five loaves and two fish. Then John's gospel it talks about Andrew says that there's a little boy here with a lunch. I don't know, what does f five loaves and two fish feed in that day? Maybe that's one person's lunch, maybe that's a small family's picnic lunch. I don't know, five loaves and two fish to feed twelve to twenty thousand people. I kind of agree with the disciples. What in the world are you thinking, Jesus? And Jesus says, You you feed them. Notice Jesus doesn't feed the crowd, he has the disciples do it. Did you know that there are two miracles that are that made the cut to be in all four gospels? One of them is the resurrection of Jesus, and the other one is the feeding of the multitudes. Now, what was it about the feeding of the multitudes? I mean, there are many other miracles that are in my mind just as profound. I mean, right after this in Matthew's gospel, Jesus is going to walk on water. Why didn't that make the cut in all four gospels? But the feeding of the multitude made the cut. What was it about this? What caused it to be so powerful? Why did they want to make sure all four gospel writers that people would hear over and over again this miracle of feeding of the multitudes? Well, here's the thing. Even after the multitudes were fed, must have been somebody in charge. Maybe it was Jesus' mother. Sounds like my mother. Yeah, you know, pick up the scraps, clean up after the meal, and there were twelve basketfuls full of food left. Oh my lord, they went started out with five loaves and two fish to feed fit twelve to twenty thousand people. Friends, I mean, I don't know. I've been to a Braves Game recently and, you know, that's about half as many as at Truist Park. How you feed those all those folks with you know, I doubt there I would have enough hot dogs for that many people, but five loaves and two fish. Well, there's something about the beauty of letting God do what it appears can't be done. Now, I don't know about you, not only have I had a bad day, I've had seasons when eh it just can't happen. And then I remember my mother's words, can't never could do nothing. Now I know English teachers, that's not proper English, but that's how it was transferred over and over and over in the Walton household growing up. Can't, never could do nothing. Well, with God, it's pretty amazing what can happen. We call it a miracle because it doesn't make sense. But here's the thing. Not everything that God's about has to make earthly sense. Here's a lot of folks that have tried to dismiss this miracle by saying, well, you know, there is scientifically the fact that sometimes there's not enough oxygen in the Sea of Galilee. It kills fish and they just kind of wash ashore, and that's probably what happened. Well, I don't know if that's what happened or not, but that's still pretty miraculous. The timing of it, if that's the scientific reason. Others say, well, what happened there was they just people had their lunches and they just began to share it with one another. Well, okay, if that's it, that's pretty miraculous too. We sometimes get down in the weeds too deep that we just can't see God at work. I invite you not to do that here. I invite you to remember that when you're having a bad day and life keeps moving and doesn't stop and allow you to grieve over that bad day that you begin to think, well, where is God in the midst of this day and what's God teaching me, and how is God using me? If that can happen for Jesus, it can happen for us. We're not Jesus, but if Jesus lives in us and we're leaning in the direction of Jesus the resurrected Lord, it seems to me, and maybe it's just to me, but I have a hunch it might be for you too that God just needs well, what was it? The grain of a mustard seed? That's all the faith that is needed. That's all that is needed is the grain of a mustard seed. Well, Jesus didn't feed them. He had his disciples do it. And there's something about being a vessel that does make a difference. I think the reason it made the cutting off our gospels is because the disciples were that bridge over troubled waters for people that day. You remember Simon and Garfunkel's song, Bridge Over Troubled Waters? It seems to me Jesus could have approached this moment in time and he would have had every reason as a human being to be grieving, and he could have taken that old Tennessee Ernie Ford approach. Remember Tennessee Ernie Ford, what he used to say? Bless their little peepicking hearts. He could have looked at that crowd and just said that, but he didn't. He didn't. He saw a need. He loved the people. Most importantly, I think the point I missed for years in this story of the feeding of the multitudes is that Jesus did it through his disciples. Listen, that's how the gospel gets spread in the world today, friends. It's through you and me. We may not think we have much value, but I promise you. I promise you. That's how the good news happens in the world. That's how the world's going to change. It's going to change through you and me doing the small things and letting God take them and multiply them so much so that when it's all said and done, there's still some good left over. Five loaves, two fish. Fed five thousand in Matthew's gospel, another place four thousand, another gospel. In John's Gospel, it was a little boy's lunch. Don't get so down in the weeds about the specifics, you forget the bigger point, and that is God desires to use you and me. You and me as followers. Now I don't know where you might be in your faith journey. You may be just beginning, you may not even have started yet. Know that God loves you. Nobody's passing judgment here. It's simply to say God wants to use us all for some good in the world. We're all gonna have bad days, we're all gonna have bad seasons. There are gonna be moments, my friends, when we all bump into somebody in traffic and feel terrible about it. I kind of wish I knew how it was going for that young lady and her grandmother that I rear-ended that day on four hundred and three sixty-nine. I hope in that bad moment they saw something in me that might have said, I felt terrible. I felt like Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I felt like I just had lima beans for supper and saw kissing on TV and had to wear train pajamas that I hate to wear. I felt awful. I had bad deitis. I felt terrible. But it had happened. And when I looked back and had to go through all the stuff you have to go through with insurance and all of those things, there was a lesson in it for me. And that lesson was even when you're in bad moments, even when you'd like for the world to stop, remember God can even use those moments, and God can even use us in the passing forward the bread of life. So how is it with your soul today? We're all going to bump into trouble. There's no question we will. Do you remember what Br said to Brabbit and Uncle Remus' Tales? I may not have it exactly, but he said something like Ah, Bray Rabbit, you can't run from trouble, you can't run that far. Yeah, none of us can run that far. If we breathe and if we live, we're going to bump into some stuff. Whether by automobile or just by life. Jesus had a no good, very bad moment. He'd been rejected in Nazareth. His best friend and cousin John the Baptizer was beheaded. He was trying to get away to grieve and process it all. People followed him on foot. And there they were, some twelve to twenty thousand of them needing to be healed, needing to be encouraged, needing to be touched in some way. The sun began to set, and there was a human need for food. The disciples knew the answer. Just let this crowd go and they'll find their way themselves. And Jesus said, No. Why don't you feed them? Us feed them? Five loaves and two fish. That's about all we've got, Lord. Even we need to go into the village and find food. No. Just do what I need for you to do and watch what happens. It'll be good. It'll be good. Well, that's my prayer for you on this Sunday morning. I hope you'll pray for me in the same regard that as we move through life and we hit those bad seasons, let's not pass a w pass around the bad itis. Let's look for the good that God can do in the midst of us. And when we're having good days, let's not get too cocky about the good days and think they'll last forever because they won't. Let's share some good and let God work through us in the sharing of the good. Hope that happens for you today. Hope it happens for you this week. If you'd like more inspiration of this nature, the book's called Monday Memo, a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family. You can go to MondayMemo.org and discover more about that there. You can hit the QR code and receive the book through Amazon, either by ebook or paperback. And of course, each Sunday morning at 9 a.m. here on WDUN, we'll have other conversations, sometimes with guests, sometimes just out of my heart. Hopefully that will encourage your first day of the week. I keep saying that because sometimes we think Monday's the first day. Remember, Sunday's the first day of the week, regardless of what some calendars may say. And may this be a day that starts you off in the right way. If you're at home relaxing today or if you're preparing to go to worship, remember this. God loves you. You're of great value. Even if you feel like you don't have much to give, well, you probably got a little more than five loaves and two fish. So give it. Allow it to be flowing through you, and then don't be surprised when you add a little joy into someone else's life. It's good to be alive, and it is a gift to live in this great country. Don't forget your blessings even when there's a cloud over them. Just remember, sometimes Terry has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and so do you. But God is with us always, Emmanuel. God bless you on this Sunday morning. Look forward to seeing you next week. Have a great week.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

You've been listening to Sunday morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton. Each week, Terry shares reflections on faith, family, and lessons that help guide us through everyday life. Today's conversation was inspired by Monday Memo, a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family, featuring more than five years of weekly writings and encouragement. Find Monday Memo at Amazon.com or visit Mondaymemo.org. Join us again next week for another edition of Sunday Morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton on North Georgia's News Talk.