Yesterday I was talking to a man who hiked the majority of the famous Appalachian Trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine.  I’ve always been fascinated with the prospect of hiking that trail, so I enjoyed hearing his stories.  As he was telling me about the difficulties he encountered on his journey, he said that the hikers have a saying that they often repeat to one another:

“Never quit on a bad day.”

And everyone has a bad day on the trail.

The reason they say this to each other is because if they give into the temptation to quit, that always arises when having a bad day, they will miss out on a wonderful experience and they’ll regret it later.  If they’re going to go out, they want to go out on their terms and on good terms – not because they had a bad day.

That’s some good advice, don’t you think?

We should never make major decisions on a whim or in response to an emotion that is fleeting and fickle.

You’re going to have bad days so…

Don’t quit your job just because you had a bad day.

Don’t quit your marriage just because you had a bad day.

Don’t quit on your kids just because you had a bad day.

Don’t quit on your teammates or co-workers just because you had a bad day.

Don’t quit on your church just because you had a bad day.

Don’t quit on your goals just because you had a bad day.

And please don’t quit on God because you had a bad day.  He is there for you on your bad days to give you the strength to keep moving forward and to bless others along the way: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Never quit on a bad day.