I’m going to guess that the Monday blues have been around forever.
I wonder if people in the 8th century rose from their straw mats on Mondays and dreaded the work ahead of them. Planting, hunting for food, getting firewood and fighting off wild beasts.
As a modern society, however, we seem even more cynical and disinterested in work.
Why are so few people eager to go to work on Mondays?
Surely, we need an antidote to the Monday blues.
I’ve had many days where I think, “Oh boy, here we go again….another Monday…argh…an appointment at 9:00, dentist at 11:30, training at 2:00, drive 2 hours back to the office and then some *&^%$ scheduled a conference call for 5:30. It’s going to be a terrible day.”
We can glorify God by serving others.
If we look at work from a spiritual perspective, perhaps you will agree that we have more treasured business to do each day. A Souly Business friend of mine once said, “when we walk into any room, we bring with us the holiness and kingdom of God”.
Wow! At work, too?
Yes, at work.
Our underlying daily work is actually to bring the light of Christ to the environment we are in….to seek God for how He wants us to care for, treat and love those around us. To love the hurting, the neglected, the burdened, the sick….and yes…and even the negligent, the proud and the trouble-makers…they all need the love, kindness and truth of God that we have to share…if our eyes are open to others’ pain.
We obviously have to do our work (and we should do it with excellence), but aren’t we there to do all we do in service to others? And in serving others with the love of God in us, aren’t we really glorifying God?
1 Corinthians 10:31: (NIV) “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Philippians 2:4 (NIV): “…not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Matthew 5:16 reminds us “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
God is with us at work.
If you are a follower of Christ, you know that you have the living God to turn to in times of distress. During boring, tedious, disgusting or directionless times (at work), we can turn to the living Christ.
In Brother Lawrence’s book The Practice of the Presence of God he says:
“He (God) does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”
Here’s hoping you enjoy your next Monday and Tuesday and…every day.
Psalm 118: 24 (ESV) “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
