I had one of those days again today--the kind where you finally get the children in bed and then collapse into a chair and think, "I'm an utter failure." Not that I got nothing done today, but I could have done so much more. And even the things I did do...someone else would have done them far better.

Some people would say, "Oh, that's just a mood...everyone feels like that sometimes. Of course you're not a failure." And of course everyone feels like that sometimes. But the fact remains, I didn't do all I could have done today, and I didn't work hard enough at the things I did do. That being the case, I have three possible responses:

1. Say to myself, "It's ok. You can't be perfect. Just relax....tomorrow is another day."

2. Get depressed. Cry into my pillow and apologize to everyone in the household for my lack of diligence. Think how they would be better off without me. Decide nothing matters anymore.

3. Think about it biblically. Call my laziness "sin," because it is. Thank God for His mercy and forgiveness. Repent. Make a plan to do what is right tomorrow. Expect to fail tomorrow as well (for I am such a frail creature of dust!), but perhaps not to the same degree. Remember that God is a God of hope.

I'm trying for number three tonight.

O do not use me

After my sins! look not on my desert,

But on thy glory! then thou wilt reform

And not refuse me: for thou only art

The mighty God, but I a silly worm;

O do not bruise me!

from 'Sighs and Groans,' by George Herbert