When I'm having a bad day, I'm glad I'm not alone. At the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge England, a loose shoelace, a lack of handrails and a marble wall conspired to give one ill-fated patron an Inspector Clousseau moment while bringing a shattering conclusion to the earthly pilgrimage of three Qing dynasty vases.
Mr. Flynn's misadventure began when he ascended the wrong staircase, pivoted, and tripped on an untied shoelace. "I couldn't stop myself," he said. Hurtling towards the vases, which had been displayed on the windowsill since the 1940s, he hit the first one, which he later said hit the others like a set of dominos. The dominoes, valued at $175,000, had been intact since the seventeenth century.
"It was not deliberate," said Mr. Flynn. "It was just one of those things that can sometimes happen. I was unhurt. I think it must have been a miracle."
Well, I imagine you've had a bad day or two yourself. A friend sometimes says, "Just because today is a bad day doesn't mean tomorrow won't be the worst day of your life."
What an encouragement! I prefer the advice of something on my fridge: "Sometimes bad days remind us that we have good ones to look forward to."
In 2005, Dr. Cliff Arnall, a British psychologist, declared the third Monday of January the worst day of the year, due to debt and weather. But bad days arrive on sunny days, too.
None of us is immune to circumstances, phone calls, tragedies. That's why we should set our GPS on Psalm 118. In it, the writer mentions his distress. Surrounded by hostile nations, he was fearful. Enemies wanted to take his life.
I've had bad days. None like that. So how can he say in the midst of it, "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it"?
He chose to focus on God's goodness and mercy. Smacked around by trouble and pain, he wrote, "In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me . . . The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? . . . Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever."
Your calendar and circumstances may label this a bad day. Your Creator says, "Talk to me. Have no fear. I'm with you. Choose gratitude. Choose joy."
After the fall of Flynn, it took experts six months to reassemble the vases. They are now back on display-in a special case. Reportedly, he was banned from the museum for a time.
So, you kids out there, listen to your mothers. Do up your laces. Or choose Velcro.
Phil Callaway is author of Laugh Like a Kid Again. Visit him at philcallaway.com.
