The Good and the Bad

I love to write about the good days. I love to write about my children being super-diligent and making me proud. I love to write about those days when everything falls into place. Days like one recent Thursday when my kids made such wonderful choices!

What I don’t like is writing about the days that aren’t so great. But, the truth is that they exist, too. Just because we’ve learned how to be diligent and how incredible the rewards of diligence are doesn’t mean we always practice it. Sometimes we have days like Tuesday.

On Tuesday nothing went right. The girls woke up making the choice to be lazy slackers, and I made the choice to be irritable. Steven made the choice to be whiney, and we all ended up with a very, very, very rough day. We didn't start off very differently from the aforementioned Thursday, but we made very different choices.

Tuesday I was ready to run away. I was ready to be able to send my kids off for someone else to deal with - I was ready for a break. Why? Because none of us did it God's way.

When we do it His way, we love where we are. We love our jobs, our interactions, our callings. When we don't, we have those terrible Tuesdays.

When I face a terrible Tuesday, I often have to stop and look at these beautiful faces...
When I do, I am reminded of the incredible task God has laid upon me - the task of raising these beautiful gifts to honor and glorify Him in all they do. I remember that they learn how to do that from me. It's hard to teach them when I don't live it myself. It's also hard to teach them when I rely on my own strength and not the Lord's.

I am happy to say that Tuesday was isolated and that we are back on track now. Not perfect diligence - not even the level of the terrific Thursday. But, we're back on track. And I am looking forward to great Hibbard family reports in the coming days!