Do you dread Mondays? Dread might be a little strong, but I have felt it too. The weekend is over. Whatever time you had to relax or participate in activities you enjoy is used up, and it’s back to work. Few of us have the pleasure of enjoying the activity that puts food on the table. It has to be done, so we drag ourselves out of bed and ace another week.

Does it have to be this way? Many a book has been written to say otherwise. They tell you to pursue your dream. They tell you that if you just try hard enough you can get there. They’re not all wrong. Many have been inspired to take the leap and have changed their lives for the better. But what if your path to peace doesn’t come from changing your circumstances, but from changing yourself?

The key to facing Monday with gusto rather than gloom is not in changing Monday, but in changing the way you think about Monday. See opportunities rather than obstacles. Consider ways you can make the day better instead of things that make the day worse. Remember your purpose and take joy in fulfilling it. Maybe the job you’re doing right now doesn’t seem to have a lot of purpose in it, but there is purpose in every experience that we have. We can know this if we place our trust in a purposeful creator.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was created secretly, and intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my embryo, and in your book they all were written — days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.

Psalm 139:15-16 LSB

There would be no extraordinary days without the ordinary. Keep doing what is in front of you. You do well to provide for yourself. You do well to provide for your family. You do better if you have something to give to someone else in need. We’re all looking for something more, and well we should, But do not lose heart on the journey. Each day is another step closer to your destiny, and if you are walking with Jesus, that destiny is glorious!