We all have rough days. You know, those days you wish you could push away and leave behind. As I parent my kids, and especially as I walk through adolescence with my seventh-grade daughter, I’m frequently reminded of the heartache, the unkind friends, and those disappointing moments you wish you could change but can’t.
I recall my own journey through these years and pray that there might be glimpses of hope I can offer her. Here is a poem I wrote for her that I even now come back to in order to remind myself that there indeed will be better times even after the roughest of days.
Better Times
You are going to have
ROUGH DAYS.
Days where feelings
and friends betray you,
days when all the things you don’t want to happen,
HAPPEN.
Sometimes chance and hormones collide to breed
MISERY,
And yet, you have things to do.
You will have to keep keeping on
And moving forward despite cramps,
And even though you aren’t your BEST.
The bad hair days,
the too tight jeans,
the fickle girlfriend who isn’t there when you need her to be.
This is life, I’m afraid.
Making do with what you’ve got available.
Even when it doesn’t seem like ENOUGH.
AND, it will probably seem like you won’t ever be enough,
but that is a BIG FAT LIE—don’t believe it.
On those days, when it feels like
no one understands,
Don’t forget about your God who does.
He knows your name, your needs, your every hair,
NUMBERED.
These moments, they will pass,
And you will feel like yourself once again.
Don’t worry or lament, life’s too
SHORT.
Sometimes all we can ask for is
one minute, one hour, one day, one week—
to pass in the hopes that there will be
BETTER TIMES,
And JOY will yet find its place in your heart again.
