We Must Have Bad Days

If this past week was wiped clean from my memory, I wouldn't be sad for a minute. It was just one of those cruddy weeks. Yesterday as I sat holding my sweet sleeping baby, I pondered why we have to have bad days or weeks. I hate change. I hate anything that deviates from my schedule and plans. Any kink in the system can throw me off. I don't like having bad days. Who does? But there are people in the world, like my husband, who don't let things bother them. And then there are people like me who do. So why can't people like me just not have bad days? As I asked myself this, my mind recalled 2 Nephi:2, where we are taught the law of opposites. There must needs be an opposite for all things. That means for our good days there must be bad days too.

I remember when we first moved to St. George. I was so excited to have sunny days every day. No blah gray winter skies. Blue skies and sun make me happy! But then after a while I found myself wishing it would rain. We hardly ever had a good rain or thunderstorm. I really began to miss those. When it did finally rain it was heavenly. I appreciated rain in a new way. Now I do my best to enjoy each rainy day we get because they are few and far between. I would never had done that had I still been living in Indiana or Pennsylvania.

The same idea applies for having good and bad days. No, I don't savor each bad day I have, but they make me appreciate the good days so much more. If all my days were perfect with children who always listened and never fought, a clean house, my ideal body, a husband who always says the right thing, immunity from disease and depression, I would not enjoy it for one minute. Sure, it would be great, but I would have no idea what I had going for me because I wouldn't know any different. I would have never experienced the opposite of perfection. But I do live in reality and my days are filled with lots of imperfection. I do get sick, I do have baby weight to lose, my kids do fight, I do get depressed, and my husband doesn't always know the right thing to say (which is understandable). But I am glad I live in such an imperfect world where there are opposites. If I didn't, I would never enjoy the good moments or days. The laughter of my children playing. Holding my innocent baby and watching him smile in his sleep and being overwhelmed that he came from my body. Getting a love poem from my husband over the email or a phone call from him saying "I wanted to hear you voice." Those days when I don't get depressed. Being able to run around and chase my kids. I wouldn't savor those sweet moments.

And I know I wouldn't pick up on the tender mercies of the Lord and promptings of the Spirit as much. If everything always went smashingly well for me, why would I need to? There would be no point to relying on the Lord because I would be able to have it all perfectly worked out on my own. But since my life isn't peachy all the time, I have to turn to the Lord and the Spirit. And the more I do that and experience mortality, the more I appreciate that divine connection in my life.

So bad days happen, but they must. I don't like them or look for them to be, but I know without the bad I would never be able to enjoy the good.