Myers
Weekends are the best. Who doesn’t love a good weekend?
As the rock band Loverboy so famously sang back in 1981, “Everybody’s working for the weekend.” We persevere through the day-to-day grind of the workweek with a growing sense of expectation as we make our way toward days of recreation, relaxation and restoration.
As a pastor, weekends work a little different for me. Don’t get me wrong. I still love and look forward to the freedom and flexibility weekends bring. But Sunday is a heavy workday for me.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the only day of the week on which I work. It is, however, the day on which much of the work of the preceding week comes to fruition.
I must confess I wake up with a jolt most Sundays, and a wave of panic washes over me as I consider the content, delivery and reception of the sermon, the various meetings to be attended and administrated, the needs of the many people who will be present and the desire to lift up the name of Jesus through it all.
I don’t dislike Sundays, though. Because in the same way the wave of panic hits me in the morning, a sense of euphoric relief comes over me when it is all finished in the afternoon. Sunday is the day we summit the peak of the proverbial climb that was the previous week. Following the Sunday service, I head home and have a few moments to let my mind rest and reset. Weekends, even with the insanity of Sunday, are awesome.
The warm, fuzzy feelings are exceedingly fleeting. It seems as soon as I’ve reached zenith of relief, I’m reminded the descent into madness is mere hours away. Monday is coming (insert ominous music).
All of the work that has been done is now but a memory. Attention must now be turned to the responsibilities and obligations that lie ahead. A new article must be composed. A new sermon must be researched and constructed. Countless emails and texts will demand my attention. Meetings and visits will populate my calendar. The trouble with the weekend is it always ends, and adding insult to injury, a new week follows right behind.
I dread Mondays. I’m beyond certain I’m not alone in my disposition toward this particular day of the week. An attitude adjustment is undoubtedly in order.
To enter any day of the week with negative expectations strikes me as being incredibly counterproductive. The words of Jesus seem to apply in this situation: “Seek and you will find.”
When we go looking for trouble and difficulty, we invariably find it. There is a sense of syllabus shock that comes with the end of one week and the beginning of another. All of those many tasks and responsibilities that lie before us, as difficult as they may be, aren’t just burdens for us to bear but opportunities of which we must take advantage.
In an amazing twist of irony, the book of Lamentations reminds us that every morning brings new mercies and continued chances to experience the compassion and grace of God. Each day, we awaken with breath in our lungs, strength in our bodies and the capacity to be who God created us to be and do what God created us to do is a gift to be cherished.
In the Bible, we are rightly warned that each day has its own issues (Matthew 6:34). But we also are encouraged to see each day, Mondays included, as reasons for rejoicing and gladness (Psalm 118:24).
Life is too precious and fleeting to wish even a moment of it away, let alone one day out of seven. May we with the Psalmist learn to see the limited priceless resource that is our lives and seek to find the good in each and every day. Thank God for yet another Monday and every day that follows.
The Rev. Jeremy Myers is the lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Seymour. Read his blog at jeremysmyers.com. Send comments to [email protected].