A Day in the Life by Julie Ann Bishop

It had been one of those days. One of those days where your (almost) two year old eats day old yogurt, red juice gets spilled on your couch, your toddler taking a nap for your sanity isn’t going to happen, two little new white teeth show up, poking through an already grouchy child’s gums, and that same toddler’s favorite word of the day is “NOOO!” You know the ones I’m talking about, the kind of day that just isn’t going well. My day started off with a long list of to do’s. Things like:

• Make a salad for the get together with my visiting teaching ladies.

• Try and wash my hair today… How long has it been?

• Fold laundry.

• Pick up the house .

• Don’t forget Braymon (the kid I watch) will be dropped off at 11:30.

You get the point. Nothing particularly stressful, but I knew it would be a busy day. It wasn’t long into my day that I got a call from my mom asking me to help her get a meal together for a family we both know. My assignment was rolls. I began making them around two thirty thinking that I would be able to get them done by five thirty. It seemed like every ingredient I added to the mixing bowl my child kicked her screaming or crying up an octave. You truly do not know the joys of motherhood until you have baked bread with a toddler on your hip.

Sooner than later, five thirty showed up and the bread wasn’t completely done baking, and I still had no makeup on. I rushed in the bathroom, put on my quick face, and headed out to the car. My mom had just arrived and offered to help get the food in the car while I tried to coax Tyley into her car seat. By this time we were running 20 minutes late to drop the meal off, and I was for sure going to be late getting to my visiting teaching get-together. While putting Tyley in her car seat, I realized I had dropped the keys somewhere and could not find them anywhere! I thought of grabbing my spare keys in the house but I had already locked the door to the house.

After a while of looking, I had started to get exasperated and really started losing my cool. I felt myself becoming more and more irate, and I had the impression to stop and say a prayer. I stopped looking and kneeled down on my knees to say a prayer. I bet you’re thinking that this is where my day turns around. That really would be a great story, but that is not what happened next. I just so happened to kneel directly on top of my new phone and crack the screen completely. That had been the last straw. I burst into tears. “I’m not going anymore.” I announced to my mother. “I’m going back inside forever.” (Dramatic I know, don’t judge).

Shortly after, we found the keys and delivered the meal to our family friends. I remember going up to the door and feeling so upset. I’m not even sure what kind of exchange took place. But when I got home and had gotten Tyley to bed, I reflected on my day. As I pondered, I realized that I had had a stressful day, but it was not all bad. Tyley had learned a new word. Braymon had come up to me while I had been hustling about the kitchen and said that he loved me. My husband came home from work safe, which in his line of work is never a sure thing. I had helped take dinner to good friends, and their gratitude made my heart happy. I had so much to be grateful for, and yet I had been so focused on the bad that I almost completely missed the little tender mercies from the Lord. In a way, God did answer my prayer, even though it wasn’t in the way I had expected. One of my very favorite quotes is from Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and I think it fits me and this situation perfectly. “Sometimes we become so focused on the finish line, that we fail to find joy in the journey.”