Miserable Mondays to Manageable Mondays

I don't know about you, but Mondays are almost always a difficult day for me. During the week everything looks manageable and, on the weekends, I subconsciously manage to tuck my “to do” list away and forget about it. Then, Monday shows up, and down crumbles my optimistic attitude and my sense of control.

Stretching from desk to ceiling in an unending pile, papers wait, calling for my attention. The longer I stare at the mountainous stack, the more intimidating it becomes. Growing with each passing second, first paper by paper, then chunk by chunk, the work load increases in size faster than I can complete it. There is too much to do, and the harder I try to get everything done, the more I find still unfinished. In panic, I frantically try to fix all of the problems at the same time, only succeeding in setting myself up for frustration and defeat.

My focus is on myself, my problem, and my incapability. As long as my point of reference is myself, I am going to end up being discouraged. In despair, I will continue to try to change myself and to do everything in my own strength.

This hopeless process is not what God intended for me. God wants Christ to be my point of reference. When I truly realize that I have died to myself and that Christ, living in me, accomplishes everything for me, then I can tackle the tasks that I am called to do because it is not I, but really Christ working through me, as me.

When Christ is my point of reference, somehow the pile on my desk doesn’t look so overwhelming. I can take the projects one at a time, and He will work through me, as me, to get each job done. Since my focus is on God, I am free to trust Him. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He will be sufficient in and through each aspect of my life.

I hope this has been a blessing to any of you who, like me, want to enjoy each day that God blesses us with, but have a hard time keeping our focus on Christ and His sufficiency when Monday morning shows up. With His grace, we can say, "Mondays — here I come!"