Today was one of those frustrating days where nothing seemed to go right. It started out on a bad note when I overslept, which doesn't happen very often, and I arrived at work at 8:30 instead of my normal 6:30. This became a problem for me since I usually use my morning hours to catch up on emails and prepare for meetings that I have later in the morning, as well as eat my morning oatmeal. Instead, I had no time to do any of that, and I instead had to jump right in to a 9 a.m. meeting. Just before that, I received a call from one of my managers at our other facility across town and was informed that he had done the exact opposite of what was negotiated yesterday with the employee's union, which resulted in a grievance and demand to return to the status quo. I don't know what the manager was thinking, but it caused a big mess, and I had to straighten it out and apologize to the union president and explain to our director what had happened. Because of all of this, the presentation I had been preparing for my meeting was not finished, and that led to issues with the work group that I was leading. On top of all of this, I had several more back-to-back meetings and wasn't able to eat anything until 1 p.m., which led to a very low blood-sugar reading. Not good for a type-2 diabetic.
I wondered whether my being late resulted in all of the problems, or was this something that could not be avoided regardless of whether I was late. I decide it would be a mix. There was nothing I could've done to prevent the manager from making his bad decision. If I had been early, I would've had time to eat and finish preparing my presentation.
Further, I started thinking about how there are days when I have to be "on" regardless of how I feel, or what I have to do. I'm in a position of leadership in my job, and I can't really take an off day. This is true for me at home, as well. I'm a single parent. Single parents can't just take a day off from their parental responsibilities. We have to be there to get the kids off to school, make sure they are well fed, keep them safe and warm, help them with homework, answer their questions, make their dinner, and get them to bed at a decent hour. Much of this will not get done with out our doing. Single parents, particularly those without a former spouse still in the picture to shoulder some of the responsibility, can't take off. This is hard.
It's a hard life. God has gifted us with so much, from being born in such a rich country, to the jobs that we have that enable us to live in a nice house and have many luxuries that more than 90% of the rest of the world could only dream of, and to not know hunger. But it's still a hard life. I didn't want to be a single parent. I didn't want my daughter to never know her mom. I don't like having a job that takes me away from my daughter for weeks at a time. But at least I have family that can cover for me, helping my daughter experience a somewhat normal life, and a salary that allows us to take nice vacations and do things together as often as we do.
For every "bad" thing in our lives, there appears to be an offsetting "good" thing. I'm convinced that's God's doing. I'm so thankful to have Him in my life. Not only is He there with me through everything, good and bad, He also provides comfort and balance. I can't do it without Him.
I hope you know Him. Have a great evening, everyone!
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