Change your perspective of Mondays

Monday. It may be the most dreaded day of the week. It is the day where it all starts over again–the grind. Early mornings, meetings, projects, work, homework, routine, conflict, fatigue, frustration, loneliness, packed schedules start again up the hill towards the top of the roller coaster that we look forward to riding down on the weekend.
We live for Friday when we can enjoy ourselves, and there is something wrong with that. We are made to enjoy and glorify God in everything we do, and yet we relegate life for our pleasure and comfort. We are made for hard work, and we can glorify God in that with our attitudes, our passions, our discipline, our hearts. We are also made to be refreshed in him weekly. When we do not spend time IN HIM to rest and be refreshed, our weariness grows. Everyday then feels like a Monday:).
As I woke up from a less than restful night’s sleep with my mind filled with lists and dreads of the week, I stopped and thought that this is an opportunity. This week is a gift. I am not alone in it–the creator and sustainer of the universe is here with me. He has redeemed me giving me life and hope beyond belief no matter what conflict or pain or frustration comes up. For some reason, he gives me life today. It is a specific reason–to know him and to bring him glory and point others toward the gift that is Him. I am not promised anything more than today. What am I going to do with it?
In a week that has brought more than a little anxiety to our country through a financial crisis, I could live in dread. However, I am reminded to live in thanks. May I be thankful for the opportunity of this day. May I be thankful that I have relationship and opportunity to minister to so many. May I be thankful for inconveniences because most of the time they are blessings (if I have my thinking on straight).
Life is hard and exhausting, but in Christ, we have a hope that goes beyond any circumstantial tragedy. We have to choose to remember that, and many times, remembering is the hardest discipline. It is easier to fall to the pattern of this world and numb ourselves with entertainment (the reason we live for the weekend), comfort, consumerism (buying things to fill ourselves up–the reason we are a nation of debt), makeovers of self and home (to cover over hurts instead of dealing with them) , etc. Life has many more weekdays in which we are to live lives fully engaged.

So, today, pray to see opportunity. Pray to step up in faith to the plate and see where God is moving for you to join him. Look for opportunities to love that hard person in your office, home, or classroom. Pray to see how the things that seem inconvenient in your life are really blessings (for what in life worth sharing is not hard at times–or most of the time?). Remember the transforming truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how that is the ULTIMATE hope and blessing.