The other day I had a really bad day. On top of a number of things that had gone wrong, I started getting intense phantom pains in my leg, which I haven’t had in a long time. By the end of the day, I was ready to have a pity party. I have found on days that you feel like Alexander having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, that perspective helps a great deal. In the midst of a rotten day or hard season of life, pausing to gain perspective on all that you are actually blessed with can help you see the difficulties of the moment in a different light.
One of the things that has gotten me through my journey is a phrase I will tell myself—“Stop and do the math.” Then I will do my best to stop focusing on my present difficulty and start adding up how blessed I am by the Lord. This exercise has helped me gain perspective that is greater than the challenge I am facing.
Perhaps you saw an unbelievable statistic about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) after the Thunder’s final game with Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs. From March 17 to April 27, the Thunder played 16 games. In that time, SGA missed only ONE shot in the 4th quarter or overtime. ONE. SHOT. That’s an insane stat where someone “stopped and did the math” that puts perspective on what an incredible player SGA is. I can get caught up in the midst of a game cheering for the Thunder—pumped when someone hits a 3 or gets a dunk, exasperated at the refs or when someone has a turnover—that I lose perspective on what a generational talent SGA is and how fortunate we are to have a team this good. But reflecting on the math of that amazing stat about SGA puts things in perspective.
It’s easy to get caught up in the difficulties of the moment. I know I did the other day. But if we will stop—go get alone and pray, get in the Word, and read and meditate upon it—then do the math—my leg hurts, but I am alive and able to do so much; this day stinks, but I have a Savior, a loving family, and more blessings than I can count—it can help us gain perspective to rise above the fray of a bad day.
One great way “to do the math” is simply focus on God’s love for you. I think of the verses in Ephesians 3:17-19 that have often been called “the geometry of God’s love.”
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”
So, the next bad day you’re having, stop and do the math. Calculate the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love for you. Calculate the vast blessings you have that can so easily be eclipsed by hardship. Ask God for perspective to focus on what is eternal, not on those things that are temporal. As followers of Christ, He “dwells in our hearts through faith,” which enables us to be “rooted and grounded” in Him even in the hardest of days.
