For Our Light

And just like that, it’s Monday. Poor Monday, it gets a bad rap. It’s the day after the weekend, which means it’s the day a lot of people must go back to work or school after a couple of days off. It’s the first work/school day of the week, which means the slow grind to the next weekend is just beginning, and Friday looks as far off as the moon. We drag ourselves out of bed, sigh over the coffee pot, dream of the weekend we just had, and slump out to the car to join the masses on the road heading to another week of work or school. And today has a little extra ughh to it. It’s the Monday after the Super Bowl.

Did you know the Monday after the Super Bowl is in the top 3 days that people miss work? As a matter of a fact, there has been a movement in recent years to try to have the Monday after the Super Bowl listed as a national holiday so people wouldn’t have to go to work. It makes sense, I guess. I mean, the game itself doesn’t deserve the holiday, but any nation that can eat 1.74 billion hot wings in a day deserves a little time off. (That’s a true figure by the way)

It's funny that, for as much as we dislike Mondays, statistically, they are the most productive days of the work week for businesses. And Fridays, that day that has earned its own monicker, “TGIF”, the day that we celebrate, look forward to, and strive for, is the least productive day of the week. Humans, go figure.

But, it still remains that for now, today is Monday, it’s not a holiday, and some are going to have to go in to start the work week and school week. How we go about facing it is up to us. The old saying that has about been worn out still holds true, “It is what it is.” So, how are we going to look at heading back to the grindstone today? The choice is ours.

I heard the story one time about a little old lady who was losing her hair. She got up one morning and looked in the mirror and only had 3 long hairs on her head. She said to herself, “I guess I’ll braid my hair today.” The next morning, she got up and looked in the mirror, and only had two long hairs. “Well, I guess I’ll put it in pig tails today, she said. On the third morning, she looked in the mirror, and only one hair was left on her head. “A ponytail it is for today!” Day four came, and she crawled out of bed and went and looked in the mirror. The last hair had fallen out, and she was totally bald. She grinned into the mirror and said, “Praise the Lord! I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

Life can be hard. And sometimes things happen that are a lot harder than just having to put up with a Monday. That’s why it is so important to have the right mindset. Charles Swindoll once said:
“I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it”
That’s a great statement. How do we look at the struggles of life? Paul tells us we can look at it as a building exercise:

“But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
(Romans 5:3-4)

James agrees with Paul:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
(James 1:2-3)

How we react will depend largely on our mindset. Here are three quick ideas to help with that mindset.

#1: Have a good memory and think back to what Jesus had to deal with in this life. Paul wrote to Timothy and said:
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel…”
(2 Timothy 2:8)

#2: Look for the good today. There are good things out there; you may have to search a little, but they are there. The book of Philippians tells us:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”
(Philippians 4:8)

#3: Look to the future. Paul told the church in Rome:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
(Romans 8:18)

So, yeah, it’s Monday. But it’s doable. And so are all of those other challenges with the right mindset. So let's go get ’em this week!

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)