Good Days and Bad Days

August 10, 2025

The other day, an episode of The Andy Griffith Show aired that featured a spoiled little boy terrorizing the neighborhood. He rode his bicycle on the sidewalk, running people over as well as knocking all the sidewalk merchandise askew. Finally, Andy confiscated the boy’s bike and impounded it. When the boy’s father came to pick the bike up, the little boy threw a temper tantrum and went so far as to tell Andy that he didn’t care if Andy arrested his father. He just wanted his bike back. Turns out the bike got sold, the boy got taken to the woodshed, and everything was right again in the town of Mayberry. As I watched all this unfold on TV, it dawned on me that there are a lot of people running around just like that little boy and his bicycle. Feeling entitled, they go about their day doing whatever they want to whomever they want, anyway they want, just to get what they want. When things don’t go their way, they throw a temper tantrum. Their tantrum may not be as blatant and obvious as Bicycle Boy’s, but make no mistake, it is a temper tantrum just the same. After living over sixty-one years, it occurs to me that not everything in my life goes my way. Like songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter said so eloquently, “Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.” John Denver put it like this. “Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Stone.” Most people, including me, enjoy the windshield and diamond days, but we don’t do so well with the bug and stone days. When those not-so-good days get us down, what do we do? Psalm 42 is helpful in getting us through times of hardship. The gist of this Psalm is that we are going to have seasons in our lives that are unpleasant and discouraging. When those seasons come upon us, don’t dwell on the unpleasant things. Instead, look to God. The Psalmist wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” It’s ok to drive on Boo-Hoo Boulevard or Pity-Party Parkway, just don’t park there and certainly don’t build a house there! It may be dark right now, but daylight is coming. Jesus never promised us a storm-free life, but He did promise He would walk through the storm with us. So my friend, keep on keeping on, one step at a time, one day at a time. Look for the hand of Jesus, grab on to it, and hold tight. Jesus knows the way home.

Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy