39-53 on a good Monday

Peer pressure. Conformity. I don't know what to call it, but sometimes I feel stupidly inclined to side with those around me and reflect the same attitudes they do when the ideas are not mine at all. And then I stop and think, what the heck?! I don't agree with that. How'd I get on this bandwagon?!?

Mondays are one of those things.

Most people are Monday-haters. And most of the time, I don't blame them. Sunday is over and the rest we've had is at an end for a good number of days. The weekend is done and whatever we planned better be done already or ain't getting done. Some people head back to school, with strenuous, mind-boggling, insane amounts of assignments. Others head back to unpleasant jobs they were so relieved to get away from on Friday. Me, I can always use more weekend, too - more time to relax, to cook, to meet up with friends, to watch movies, to read. I love Sundays, and am always looking back at a pleasant time had on the last one, and peering ahead to when the next one will arrive.

But I have not had an unpleasant Monday in ever so long. When I was in school, Monday meant a fresh start - leaving behind whatever poor grades or difficult assignments I'd barely finished on Friday, and starting anew with all sorts of possibilities. It meant tea time at 9:30 or 10 in the morning with the entire school gathered for tea, coffee and snacks in the commons. It meant chatting with classmates again between classes and learning new things in the classroom from teachers I loved. As Dr. Wilson would say (and his Naval officer had started Mondays with once upon a time), "Goodie, goodie, Monday morning, another week in which to excel!" :)

Now, as a graduate with job responsibilities and bills, I still have nothing much to complain about on Monday AM. I may be tired, need gas for my car, or just be moody, but the day and the week is new. Everything in a sense has had a death at the end of last week and been resurrected over the Lord's Day, so that I face this week with a clean face and an open heart, clean hands and open eyes to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

Thank God for Mondays.

#39. blackberries and plums on the counter from my sister and her afternoon picking fruit yesterday
#40. clean laundry, though it be piled high and messy on the chair in my room
#41. fried potatoes and eggs
#42. makeup. oh how grateful I am for thee.
#43. my roommate Tali's laugh
#44. looking forward to singing at the Clark House nursing home tonight
#45. the opportunity to start a Bible study
#46. Laura M and her sweet words
#47. absence of construction on the road (that has been slowing me down for weeks) this morning
#48. sunshine chasing away the clouds of the night
#49. the thunderstorm that lit our sky with weird blue fire last night, watered the lawn, and watered our skin as we watched
#50. that the fires started by the lightning (in wheatfields and a tree) were easily put out
#51. my little student's cursive in the words of Scripture she copied for me
#52. her smiles and laughter as we work together over the morning
#53. an open window in a car with broken AC
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