I love Mondays

BY DREW HARBUR

The title is not a cry for help, or a confession, though it may sound that way to some. It's something new in my life that I want to share from the heart.

You may have heard of the so-called "Monday morning syndrome." You know, that time of the week generally associated with trying to wake up after a few days of relaxing, sleeping in, and doing things you actually want to do. In freshman year, I used to start my week with this feeling, and wander around until Tuesday afternoon wishing I could take a nap—or that Friday would hurry up and arrive.

But lately I've been questioning the validity of this feeling. It's a waste of a day.

Think about how many moments are in a Monday—moments to do something nice for someone, moments to pray, moments to notice a warm breeze or watch birds chasing each other.

Mary Baker Eddy described in one of her writings how we can square our account with God "hourly" (see Science and Health, p. 291). When I read this, it felt as if a hand pulled me out of my funk and showed me how many opportunities there are in a day to realign myself with God. Because I think of God as Life—ever active and resourceful—I could feel God telling me to use every moment I had for good, and to realize that every moment was worth participating in. This blew me away!

Now, with this new insight, I wake up every morning with a huge smile on my face, thinking, "OK, God, I have no idea what is going to happen today, but thank You so much—because it's gonna be really cool." It wasn't as if I didn't have plenty of stuff to do (I'm in eight extracurricular clubs and run varsity track), but everything began feeling more spontaneous and refreshing.

Best of all, I began noticing little things I probably had missed before. I now seized countless opportunities to be grateful and feel warmth coming directly from God. I'd watch a squirrel gathering acorns for the winter and marvel at its persistence and ambition. I'd see an elderly woman struggling with a door, and help her out. Once I told a shuttle bus driver I hoped she had a great day—she told me I'd just made her day.

Also, I'm no longer hesitant to share ideas about God with people I meet. Recently, I had a conversation with a guy who told me he wasn't sure God even existed. We shared some ideas and actually found a lot of common ground on our views of spirituality. He told me about how much he suffered from problems in his past. By the end of the conversation, he asked if I could include him in my prayers.

What changed my whole outlook was accepting that God was giving me new and exciting things to do every moment of the day. Being grateful for the littlest thing made me aware of God's presence. So when I was faced with something bigger, like a person needing help, I was able to meet that person wherever they were and be God's humble servant.

Best of all, I realized Monday is like any other day, full of moments to bless everyone around us and ourselves. Now I use those moments to explore the infinity of God. |CSS

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