We stood there waiting for the bus.  She asks innocently, “How was your day?”

For a moment I think, “Just say fine,” but truth is it wasn’t fine. “Oh, it’s been a hard day.” I say with a tired smile. I don’t even really have the energy to go into it, the hard of my day.

The bus pulls up. The kids get off.  They run at us, smiling faces happy to see the Mommas.  The conversation is over.  She says, “Well, I hope it gets better.”

I shrug with a smile. “Yeah, well, whether it does or not…” my voice trails off… I am not feeling hopeful.  I know what’s coming… what’s in the rest of my day.

Then, as if knowing it doesn’t look good, the end of my day, she says to me “Well, the sun will set.”

I hold those words for a moment.

The sun will set.

Yes, whether my day gets better or not, the sun will set.  Right there, in those words were hope.

There will be an end to this day, and that feels like grace.

Some days don’t get better.  You are just grateful they have an ending.

Like the day a child wakes up at 3 am crying loud with fear and even though he gets settled, you can’t go back to sleep because you just have too much on your mind, so you decide to finally get up by 5:30 a.m., because, hey, your not sleeping anyway.

So you get up thinking maybe you can at least have some quiet time… time to quiet down your mind and be quiet with your Lord and let Him speak truth to your mind filled with noise and not-truth.

And so you try to still your mind before your God, but this same sweet child comes down by 5:50 and you think “Don’t you ever sleep, child?!?”   So your quiet time dissolves, it just vanishes before you.  And you feel like crying, but there are no room for tears this morning.

You are in it… into your day.  A day filled with appointments and work and shuttling kids here and there.  Oh, and all the turmoil you carried along with you from the night and your can’t-sleep thinking, and you tell yourself, if I can just get to nap time then I can find the quiet I need.

But wouldn’t you know, this boy won’t sleep his nap like he needs, like you need him to.  No, instead, in your tired, weary state you forget he needs a pull up.  So he wakes himself 20 minutes into his nap wetting himself and the bed and now you have laundry to do that wasn’t on the agenda for the day.

And so you are on again.  No rest for the weary.  You plow through and plod ahead to bus time when more kids, more noise, oh it is gift, their noise, but it is noise and what you need right now is quiet. But. You. Can’t. Get. It.

And so when your bus stop mom friend asks you how you are doing, at this point you feel you have been through battle and all you can say is “Hard day.”

And then the words are spoken… the sun will set… the truth comes to you… this day will end…

It may not get better, and it didn’t because you were on your own for dinner while the hubby has a late meeting, so you do homework with the kids, while making dinner, while trying to keep the not-sleeping precious wild boy from destroying the house and balancing the baby on your hip who wants to live in your arms.

You feed these precious, loud gifts from God and then you clean up after them and make lunches and then bed time routine and finally the truth comes… this day will end.

And you know what?  It does.  The sun will set.  And it finally has.

Some days, they don’t get better, they just end.  And it is grace that every day has its ending.

Our God, he knew what we needed, he knew some days would just go bad.  He knew what he was doing in giving us sunsets, in giving us an ending to a day.  God, he was so gracious to give limits to our day, a stopping point.  A day does not go on forever. We are not meant to keep going.  In His grace, God gave us limits, an ending to our day, our work, our madness.

For God gives sleep, rest to his loved ones, so he tells us in His Word.   Sunsets, limits to a day, the fact a day always has an ending is gift!  It is grace.

Whatever your day has held, it has an ending.  The chance to sleep, to rest, to live deep into the work of restoration that our God so brilliantly gives to us in the night hours of REM sleep.  It comes.  The day ends, finally.

And with that ending comes a new beginning.  Because just as he gives rest to his loved ones, just as he so graciously ends each day, good or bad, he also renews us each morning with his mercies that are new.

So take heart, friend, however this day has gone… because the sun will set.  This day, it will end.   Hard day with the kids.  Flat tire on the way to an important meeting.  Nothing going right for you at work.  Feeling rejected or overlooked by a friend.  Fight with your wife or hubby.  Worn out and weary.  Whatever your day has held.  Your relief, it is coming.  This day will end.  And tomorrow is a brand new day.

There will be a fresh start in the morning.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Yes, great is his faithfulness to us, each and every day.