November 11, 2009
A Hump Day Meditation
by Katherine Britton, Crosswalk.com News & Culture Editor
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" - Psalm 118:24
It was not a good way to start off the week. Monday had me sick at home with a cold instead of heading to the office. My husband came home with the announcement that he had a case of the Mondays too. It was definitely a day of joining the Mamas and the Papas in singing, "But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes / You can find me cryin' all of the time." We both went to bed early and hoped for a better Tuesday.
Tuesday was not Monday. That was about its only advantage.
Today, though, is Wednesday. Happy hump day! At lunchtime, I will mentally congratulate myself for making it halfway through the workweek. Friday is already beckoning in the distance, where it was just a speck on the horizon on Monday. Oh Monday, Monday, can't trust that day. But today, rejoice! We're getting through our responsibilities on the job and on our way to thanking God for Friday.
Unless, well.... God, you do realize that Mondays are a direct result of the Fall, don't you? A curse on mankind even greater than that thorns and thistles? You do know how much we suffer on account of that day, right?
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!"
Plenty of days begin with me hitting the alarm and wishing that psalmist had stuck with writing about shepherds and sheep. How foundational, and yet how forgettable, is the truth that we wake up every day with a glorious choice - do we view our time as our own, or as another day to serve the Lord?
Hump day mentality reveals the underlying attitude that we resent being "owned." On most days, we think we only resent that someone or some entity owns 40 hours of our time during the week. But what about when we consider that our time belongs to the Kingdom of God? Then who is that Monday mentality railing against?
That question brings us to the weekend - our time. Those chores that can wait just a little while longer, that new novel that has to be read, those boxes that don't really need to be unpacked, that church service that needs to end precisely at noon. Do you sometimes find yourself in a passive-aggressive resistance to that time constraint during your weekend, like I do?
As I wrote last week, a little book is again confronting me about how I view my stuff, my time, my resources, and my God. I'm asking myself whether I'm living my life as a stewardship of what God's given to me or as an owner who has rightfully earned all that she has. And I'm discovering little roots that keep me more attached to this world when I should be - including the belief that my time is my own. When it's my time, I'm scrambling for every morsel of me time, and hoarding it like a personal treasure.
Contrast this to the express vocation of the psalmist: "My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long." (Psalm 35:28)
How's Wednesday looking for you?
Further Reading
Dueteronomy 4:9
Joshua 24:15
Dreading Monday? Take a Fresh Look at Sunday