A Prayer for Manic Mondays

August 19, 2013 | 15 comments

Good morning Lord,

Someone said this about Mondays–

That they’re manic.

And let’s face it: they would be manic without You in them. 

I suspect Mondays feel so impossible because we stack up expectations on our calendars, our homes, our peers, our children, our spouses, our own selves.

We look at what needs to get done, and we can’t imagine how it will. The slopes of our manmade mountains of expectation look unscaleable.

We suppose that we’re not enough for the pile. Which is true. We aren’t enough. “Enough” never worked. Which is why Your Son died for us. Help me remember that truth this day, this week. Help me remember when I try to tell myself that I’m not enough for the tasks, the relationships, the troubles that might come my way this week. Help me remember that You are already enough, and You are already wherever I’m going.

And the thing is, Mondays are the proof that what I prayed is already true. Sure enough, I checked the calendar. It’s Monday, and behold: You’re here. Just like You said You’d be. These new Mondays keep coming along, like the calendar threatened. And as long as we’re still breathing, they’ll be here waiting.

I want to step into Mondays,
in step with You. 

When I try to tell myself how ungreat I am every Monday, uproot each  negative thought and replace it with a reminder of how Great thou art.

Dwell in me, Lord. Make the Gospel of your Son get bigger in me this day and this week. Get rid of what doesn’t belong in this temple.

Jesus, You handled Mondays like a boss.

Some find it alarming how, on what is traditionally believed to be a Monday, You entered the temple courts and drove out people who were treating it like a shopping mall. You overturned tables and you didn’t mince words: “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Some people might have said you went a little bit manic on that Monday. But Jesus, I need you to get manic, like that, in me. I need you to tip over some tables, and help me keep my priorities straight.

Make me a house of prayer this week. 

This could be the day where I look at everything with new eyes. This could be the day when I believe it heart-deep:

that this is the day — this manic Monday right here — this is the day that the LORD has made. Help me resist the urge to remake it in my own image.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

 

 

“Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!”

~ From Psalm 139 (The Message)

by | August 19, 2013 | 15 comments

15 Comments

  1. debyholtschlag

    Thank you for being His vessel Jennifer – I so love reading and taking into my heart the words He has given you as our blessing. How exciting to one day meet all of my family in Him – face to face – when we are Home with our Abba. Have a wonderful Monday. God so blesses! – deby

    Reply
    • dukeslee

      You too, Deby. Praying you have a MARVELOUS Monday, with not a hint of manic. 🙂

      Reply
  2. S. Etole

    A beautiful beginning to the week.

    Reply
  3. Michelle DeRusha (@MichelleDeRusha)

    Guess I probably should have been prayin’ instead of singin’ “Just another Manic Monday” to Rowan this morning! Thanks for sending me down a better road, Jennifer! 😉

    Reply
  4. Barbie

    What an inspiring post to start my week with!

    Reply
  5. Lynn Morrissey

    Powerful, Jennifer–as always! How *do* you do it? I couldn’t help but think of the words of one of my favorite growing-up songs, Monday, Monday, by the Mamas and the Papas:
    “Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
    Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
    Oh Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be
    Oh Monday, Monday, how could you leave and not take me?”

    Mondays are mundane or manic, as you suggest, with no warning of what’s coming (and the agenda might be pretty frenetic or frightening). Or Mondays may be ripe with opportunity which we’re too lazy or afraid to seize, so Mondays evaporate into the weeks and years of lost hope. But I truly *love* how you *always* point us to Christ, and to know that He is Lord of our Mondays and our days, our weeks and our years. He is great, and He is enough–enough for our franticness and fright and failure. He’s everything. And I love how He does overturn tables and upsets applecarts of every kind, and that He has given us yet another Monday to start afresh. That’s really a wonderful gift, when you think about it–another Monday to start over in Him.
    I love you, Jennifer. You are one fine writer and an even finer Christian lady.
    Lynn

    Reply
  6. Lisa Buffaloe

    Love this, Jennifer! Amen, sweet sister! Amen!

    Reply
  7. Kim

    Beautiful thoughts, beautiful photos, beautiful way to begin my week. Thanks, Jennifer!

    Reply
  8. livingrealblog

    How beautiful! I especially love these words Jennifer: “This could be the day where I look at everything with new eyes.” Yes Lord! Cause that to be so, today, tomorrow, always. Jennifer, your posts are such blessings!

    Reply
  9. Dea

    I hoping you are living the answer to that prayer on Tuesday. Maybe I am one of the few, but I love Monday…but some Mondays, there are some tables in this temple that get turned over…..

    Reply
  10. Caleb

    I love it, Jesus cleared the temple courts on a Monday! What a man, what a boss. Thanks for the great prayer this week!

    Reply
  11. Nancy Ruegg

    These words of your prayer caught my attention: “Help me resist the urge to remake it [Monday] in my own image.” Oh, boy. Am I guilty of that! And not just on Mondays either! Got my to-do list, my prearranged schedule, my desires for the day all set. Thank you, Jennifer, for the reminder that even the to-do list and schedule can be created in his image. Oh, the glorious possibilities!

    Reply
  12. David @ Red Letter Believers

    So, it was the Bangles who sang “Manic Monday”.
    I always wear a bright shirt on Mondays — a reminder that it’s a fresh start to the week.
    Weird trick, but it works.

    Reply

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