Start Monday Strong by Taking Sunday Off
Oh, Monday morning woe!
Dishes piled in the sink, counters overloaded with random bits, laundry mounting high out of the hampers. Extra gunk on the floor, toys left out, books strewn everywhere.
Everywhere I looked, I saw evidence that I was starting the week behind.
Everywhere I looked, I saw that I did not spent the weekend as I ought. I clearly did something wrong.
I used to think that I had to earn Sunday rest.
After all, I couldn’t actually rest if the house was a mess. Who could expect that?
So, if the house wasn’t up to snuff, I’d be cranky or despondent – which is simply another form of disobedient.
But, like salvation itself, Sunday rest is not something I earn. It’s something I receive, right where I’m at. I might not like where I’m at, but that’s where God intervenes, nonetheless.
I don’t have to pretty myself up or set myself up for success.
In this way, every Sunday, whether the house looks good or not, whether I look good or not, whether I feel ready or not, I experience again in a small taste what salvation by grace is like.
It’s about God seeing my need – my real need for a Savior and not my perceived needs – cutting through my mess, and meeting that true need. I have the opportunity – every week – to accept that gift in a tangible, honest way.
Every week I can accept the rest God offers with no strings attached, with no excuses, without being prepared for it.
And where my anxieties and self-sufficient nature warn that Monday will only be that much worse, I find they lie.
Sure, the house won’t magically be clean and ready like I’d love a Monday morning to be.
But just as God cut through the mess to give grace to me, then I too am able to cut through the mess and give grace to my family on Monday morning.
I learn that I don’t need what I thought I needed.
How much better to start Monday with a reason and opportunity to roll up my sleeves, rather than with a pristine setting that slowly (or not so slowly) disintegrates all week until I hit panic levels again over the weekend.
Sunday I learn I am refueled and refreshed not by accomplishing my to-do list, but by honoring, obeying, and enjoying God.
