"Bad Day Choices"

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

We all have bad days.  There are days when things don't go as we plan.  Days when pain and suffering come.  Days when things don't go as we hoped they would.  Just bad days.  When those bad days come, we have to make a choice about them.  Are we going to choose to allow them to affect our attitude and cause us to have a "bad" attitude?  Or are we going to choose grace? 

Paul was faced with a thorn in his flesh.  It was not a good thing-- thorns never are.  Had it been a good thing he never would have prayed for its removal-- but he prayed three times for the Lord to take it away.  The Lord responded to Paul by offering him grace.  That was his answer.  At that point Paul had a choice-- was he going to let the thorn cause him to get a bad attitude, get bitter, get frustrated, angry, discouraged, etc., or was he going to choose grace?  Paul chose grace.

When we are having a bad day and chose to respond and react in our flesh to the bad things that are happening, we are going to find ourselves giving into the wrong attitude.  We will give into anger, revenge, frustration, discouragement,  fear, bitterness, hopelessness, confusion, and so on.  But if we will choose grace instead, we will be able to rejoice and be glad.  We will have peace to make it through the day.  We will have contentment.  We will have faith and so on because grace is the agent that produces these types of attitudes in us.  Grace is not only defined as God's unmerited favor.  It is also defined as God's divine influence on our hearts.  Therefore, by choosing grace we will be choosing His influence to direct our hearts.  His influence is one of love, joy, peace, contentment, mercy, strength, etc. Therefore, even a bad day can be a good day when we choose grace.

Have a great day.  Having a bad day?  Choose grace and you will then be able to rejoice and be glad in that bad day.