You take the good, you take the bad

You take the good, you take the bad, 
you take them both and there you have 
The facts of life, the facts of life. 

The Facts of Life Theme by Alan Thicke, Gloria Loring and Al Burton

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/thefactsoflifelyrics.html

My son helped me put weed block on my flower bed in the spring. I love the raised bed that my husband made for me in the front of the house. Since it’s now a bigger project than what I can do alone, I was thankful for Taylor’s help. My flowers thrived after the TLC and I’ve had less upkeep during the heat of the summer. I went outside this morning and discovered something that I hadn’t noticed before. The weeds have found a way to work around the weed block. They are coming up in the middle of my good plants. There is clover in the middle of my rose bush and some kind of sticky weed coming up in the middle of the daisies.

These unwanted “guests” reminded me that life is full of both good and bad. It’s been that kind of week for me. I have had good moments where I feel like I’ve figured it out. I find myself saying “you’ve got this!” when I am succeeding at something I doubted I could do. And other times, when I’m tired and my legs are failing, I lament that I’ll never be able to do as much as I want. As I thought about the good and bad of life, I began hearing the theme song from the Facts of Life in my head, “you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.”

The fact of life is that there will be both good and bad. I am learning that I can cope with the roller coaster ride better if I remember these things.

• When it’s bad, there will also be good. The weeds among the rose bush doesn’t turn the rose into a weed. There will still be beautiful blooms. When I find myself dwelling on the bad, I have to remind myself that there are still good things in my life. I’m loved and I’ll always be a child of God.
• When it’s good, there is also bad. I want it all. I want my life to filled with only good things but that is an unrealistic expectation. We aren’t promised a carefree life, in fact, Jesus tells us there will be troubles in our life (John 16:33). If I accept the bad as part of my life, I don’t allow bitterness to take root.
• Jesus overcomes the world – After Jesus tells us there will be trouble, he says we can take heart because he has overcome the world. There will be good and there will be bad, but Jesus is above it all. I don’t have to fear the bad or expect only good, Jesus promises to be with me in both.

No matter how much I want my life to be only filled with good things. The bad has a way of coming in like the weeds in my flower bed. It comes in and makes itself known without invitation. It is a fact of life that there will be good and bad. But we can find peace when we accept both and trust in the one that overcomes the world. In truth, you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you know, that Jesus overcomes it all.