The Law of Averages

When I was a new mom, I remember someone giving me the advice to pray that the good days outweighed the bad. At the time, I thought that was very insightful and it did make me feel better. And for the most part, the good days do outweigh the bad.

But you know what I have noticed? As a wife, mom, and homemaker, there are good days, bad days, and average days. I think it is important to remember the average days. Not all days can be fabulous or terrible. Sometimes, in fact most of the time, a day will have both elements of good and bad and can not be squarely put in one category or the other. This is the way life is.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the Law of Averages states:

the commonsense observation that probability influences everyday life so that
over the long term the possible outcomes of a repeated event occur with specific
frequencies

Or in other words, for every good day I have, there is bound to be an equal number of bad days, but both those occurrences even out to form average days. Average days are wonderful in my book. I don't think we are fair to ourselves when we are constantly striving to have nothing but good days all the time. I think it's unrealistic. I'd much rather have average, normal, happy days.

At the same time, I also think perspective has a lot to do with it. Couldn't an average day be viewed as a bad day by some? Nothing spectacular happened, everything did not get crossed off the to-do list, the children had a lot of fun going on a walk as a family, dinner was delicious...you know, just an average day. If you only pay attention to the first two statements about that day it detracts from the next two statements. I think we need to remember to always look at the whole picture.

For me, I've noticed that I can end an average day feeling like it was a great day if I remember to keep my perspective in check and to lean on the Lord in all things. Average days are a blessing filled with all the real stuff of life. Good days will happen and be celebrated, bad days will happen and be lamented, but average days are what will happen all those other times in between.