Diamond Days Are Better

“Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.” John Denver, though he could have used some of that intuitiveness when it came to experimental aircraft, sure nailed it when he crooned those words about the ups and downs of life. I suppose it goes without saying, but I definitely prefer the diamond days over the rocky ones.

It’s quite easy to be in a wonderful mood when the day is going right. Like when I stumble upon a half bag of Reece’s Cups that I hid from myself in a seldom-opened drawer. On the rocky days, I mostly pout. My well-meaning husband will try to help by reminding me that I have so much for which to be thankful. However, I usually respond to him by rolling my eyes and mumbling complaints under my breath. He’s right of course. (Please don’t tell him I said that!) But his reminder only makes me feel like a self-absorbed brat with a serious gratitude-deficiency problem.

I wish I could be more like Charlie Brown on my stone days. Sure, he is a bit pensive for a kid. But with good reason. After all, nearly all of his days are stones. He’s continually humiliated by a bully who calls him a horrible name likening his head to an unflattering shape. Plus she takes great pleasure in pulling a football away just as he’s about to kick it. Adding insult to injury, his adult neighbors give other children candy on Halloween, but only give him rocks. It’s no wonder that at the tender age of eight Charlie Brown needs a psychiatrist.

I’m not proud of it, but if my childhood neighbors and friends had been like those of Charlie Brown, I would have reacted rather naughtily. Post trick-or-treating, every porch in my neighborhood would have been alight with flaming bags of dog poo. Not only that, Lucy would have received the swift kick meant for the football. But retaliation isn’t Charlie Brown’s style. Even though he faces day after day of disappointment, he remains optimistic that tomorrow he will triumph. Charlie Brown chooses to focus on the diamond days sure to come—to rise above, even when his circumstances are less than ideal.

The soft-spoken philosopher in the zigzag shirt offers us a contemporary and familiar lens for hope when it comes to diamond days. But long before, Joseph—the betrayed brother introduced in Genesis 37—embodied these qualities. And like Charlie Brown, he, too, refused to let his stone days make him bitter. As the most cherished son of his father, Joseph didn’t experience many stone days as a youngster. But at the age of 17, he had a whopper of one when he found himself standing on a slave auction block hundreds of miles from home.

His own brothers, jealous of the favoritism lavished on him by his father, sold him to slave traders for a mere 20 shekels of silver. Of course, Joseph’s revelation of his God-given dreams predicting he would one day rule over his family didn’t help their brotherly camaraderie. Still, their betrayal of him was more than a little over the top. Yet Joseph continued to trust God.

Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, purchased Joseph. And though he remained a slave, Joseph actually experienced some diamond-ish days under Potiphar’s mastery. Without a doubt, Joseph worked diligently and skillfully for Potiphar; but most importantly, “the Lord was with Joseph.” Potiphar recognized God’s presence in Joseph’s life and made the slave the overseer over his house and fields. Now I’m not saying any day as a slave is a fantastic day. But life for Joseph as the head of Potiphar’s household was about as “diamond-y” as it got.

Until it wasn’t. Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife also liked Joseph. After all, it says right there in Genesis that he was quite the looker, and the mistress of the house wanted Joseph in her bed. Joseph, loyal both to God and Potiphar, adamantly refused her advances. “My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9), he asked her. But Potiphar’s wife, not accustomed to being told “no,” refused to accept rejection. After one final failed attempt at seducing him, she retaliated by telling her servants and her husband that he had tried to rape her.

Attempted rape in ancient Egypt was punishable by death. Potiphar may have questioned his wife’s accusation. Or perhaps he respected Joseph too much to believe it. Either way, instead of ordering his execution, Potiphar sent Joseph to prison. Better than death? Yes. But an indefinite prison sentence still ranks among the stoniest of days.

Poor Joseph. For the second time in his young life, he finds himself in chains through no fault of his own. If it had been me, I would have felt desperate. I would have been angry. I would have wallowed in my aloneness. David certainly felt that way as he ran from Saul, crying out “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). I’m nearly certain I, too, would have shouted out that question again and again if I had been in Joseph’s shoes. I doubt I’m alone in that. It’s super easy to get consumed by difficult circumstances, even for those of us who love God deeply. But Joseph? He continued to trust the Lord.

Joseph never doubted that the Lord’s favor was upon him. His faith embodied the encouragement that David speaks of in Psalm 31:24: “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.” And in that faithful trust, just as He did when Joseph was a slave in Potiphar’s household, God blessed Joseph in prison and “gave him success whatever he did” (Gen. 39:23).

Though his circumstances might seem insurmountable to most, Joseph knew they weren’t insurmountable to God. That faith proved fruitful, for his journey didn’t end in prison. It continued toward the life the Lord had prepared for him. His reputation as the instrument through which God revealed the meaning of dreams ultimately landed him a position as second in command to none other than Pharaoh. That role then led to an eventual reconciliation with his brothers, reunion with his father, protection from famine for his family and all of Egypt, and blessings beyond imagination.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that Joseph was on a first-name basis with stone days. He didn’t view them that way, though. His enduring hope that God would take care of him according to His will was not based on the kind of day he was having. That’s a perspective that would serve all of us well today. After all, we all have our stone days in which, to quote Mr. Denver once again, “the hard times won’t leave us alone.” It’s the message that Charlie Brown has been trying to teach us ever since Schulz’s first comic strip. But while Charlie Brown hoped a new day would bring success in kicking the football, Joseph placed his hope in the God who brings the new day itself.

What might the days that I get nothing but rocks look like if I had that kind of hope? What if, instead of pouting on those days, I choose to be thankful to God for even the simplest of gifts? Rather than mumbling complaints to myself, what if, like Joseph, I choose to believe that God is good even when the day isn’t? What if I can harness not only some Charlie Brown-ness but some of the enduring, faith-filled hope of Joseph on those days? If I do, I have little doubt they would look a little less rocky and a lot more diamond-y. And while I may not be inclined to philosophical contemplations like Charlie Brown, I’m no blockhead either: diamond days are better.

The Good News for me, for the Charlie Browns of this world, for all of us, is that our hope isn’t simply something we wait for. It’s someone who is alive. Joseph’s hope was based on the earthly fulfillment of God’s promises. But because of the debt paid on the cross for us, we have so much more. We have what Peter refers to as a “living hope.” It’s believing not only that Jesus came out of the grave victorious over death, but also that we can have that same victory—over death, and in our day-to-day lives here on earth—if we put our trust in Him. It’s a hope that isn’t only about what God will do for us; it’s about what Jesus has already done.

Jesus Christ—not my circumstances, not wishful thinking, not even blind luck—is my living hope. He is why, even when life feels impossibly hard, when that football keeps getting yanked away, when the rocky days pile up one after another, I can still trust that there are bright, diamond-y days sure to come.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. (Lamentations 3: 22-23)

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