Wrong Side

I'm not always sure what the right side of the bed is. I'm pretty sure that on nights like last night someone must have come and rotated my bed so that the wrong side was facing my clock, because I definitely felt the impact of "wrong-side-of-the-bed-syndrome" (otherwise known in the DSM-IV as "WSOTBS" and "Crabby.")

Whatever the case may be, I can't imagine that a four foot leap off the wrong side of the top bunk at 6:53 in the morning could result in anything but a day like today. I didn't even get to perform my morning ritual incorporating the sacred function of the "snooze-and-crawl-into-the-empty-bottom-bunk-six-times" before throwing on clothes and running out the door.

I do not bring this up because I want to pour out all the gruesome details of my endless day. I'm not looking for sympathy, especially since for most people, 7 am isn't a terrible wake-up call.

But what IS the cause of "bad-day syndrome" that everyone seems to suffer from now and then? It cannot be traced solely to lack of sleep or indigestion. It can't be loneliness. It just IS. It invades every aspect of one's life. It turns the most cheerful of people into biting naggers, and it causes a severe drop on the patience-ometer.
Believe me. I know from experience. The symptoms of WSOTBS can be harmful to friendships, cause cancers of bitterness and discontent to grow unchecked, and cause malformations of the face - namely a turning down of the corners of the lips and a squinting of the eyes - symptoms that will persist if WSOTBS is given free reign.

I have discovered (too late, I fear) that the medicine for this common syndrome lies not in over-the-counter medicine or prescription drugs. Some let it "run its course," but that's not as effective as the cure that the Great Physician hands us:

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up like bones." Proverbs 17:22
"You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:5-6

Yes, I think I'll make sure to take my daily vitamin of Scripture in the morning to ward off the illness of gloom that may try to creep in.