Point to Ponder:
Do you wake up each day excited?
Last week a dear friend and I shared our disdain for Mondays. Although we are both self-proclaimed optimists and we don’t have a single legitimate reason to complain or dread, Mondays can be mentally, emotionally and physically difficult. As we talked and tried to make sense of why Mondays are often times so hard, I concluded it's because unlike the flexible, spontaneous and less structured weekends, Monday comes with routines, expectations and a schedule. And Mondays are a transitional day of re-entry, and regardless of whether it’s re-entering from a vacation or a weekend, I find I have to go through a shaking off of the cobweb-like re-entry process, which can be disorienting and very challenging. Then, of course one day later I read a simple yet impactful and relative devotional by Joyce Meyer that titled, “Make a Decision to Be Excited Everyday.”
Joyce’s wisdom is not rocket science, though it’s a practical and helpful reminder that in life, we get what we focus on. And, if we focus on the dread of weekly deadlines, the heaviness of tackling our budget and paying bills, or the mundane affairs of setting an alarm to wake up early, make lunches, go to work, volunteer, repeat, we’ll for sure only experience dread, heaviness and mundane. Ultimately, we can zero-in on the barren portion of a tree or the fuchsia buds waiting to burst into full bloom. They are both available, but we get to choose our focus.
Despite what we have going on in life, choosing an attitude and outlook of excitement is a decision we get to make everyday, and, if we only get excited about big events or the weekend, we’ll miss the sweetness in our simple day-to-day lives. Or, if you’re like me, playing mental tricks is helpful too. For me, excitement is often about re-phrasing and/or re-framing, so moving forward and for added daily enthusiasm I’m officially renaming the days of the week. It’s no different than me telling Malaine (my 4 year old daughter) who wakes up asking for sugar that an apple is sugar. It’s just a little trick to change our mental makeup around sugar, an apple or a day of the week. So, here it goes:
Marvelous Monday
Terrific Tuesday
Wonderful Wednesday
Thankful Thursday
Fabulous Friday
Sensational Saturday
Splendid Sunday
Finally, below is a portion of Joyce’s devotional. I hope you find her wise words to be as impactful as they were for me, and I hope you have a Marvelous Monday, Terrific Tuesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Fabulous Friday, Sensational Saturday and Splendid Sunday! (Ps, as I am writing I had a husband/marriage epiphany. Just today I was complaining about how unexciting his stable, reliable, non-spontaneous and linear personality is, but because I get what I focus on, it's my opportunity to change my focus to appreciating his loyalty, stability and predictable qualities, even if that means I'll never be able to get him on a dance floor and on Valentine's Day it's store bought roses wrapped in plastic and placed in a plastic spiderman cup, year after year after year. Stability, responsibility and predictability are admirable values that I do appreciate and need to focus more on.)
For years I got up each day and waited to see how I felt, then I let those feelings dictate the course of my day. Now, I set my mind in the right direction and make my decisions that I know will produce emotions I can enjoy. Most of our days are ordinary. We all have moments in life that are amazing, but a lot of life is Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and back to Monday. Recently I stood in front of 225,000 people in Zimbabwe preaching and teaching. It was my birthday and 225,000 people sang “Happy Birthday” to me, and that was rather cool. Yesterday I went to Target to buy new kitchen rugs and then to the grocery store, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed Zimbabwe and the grocery store equally. Zimbabwe was a once-in-a-lifetime event that was exciting, and one I will never forget, but having another day that God has given me is also exciting, even if it is spent doing errands. Everything we do can be sacred, and choosing to be excited everyday will immediately increase our enjoyment.
Action Item:
Decide to choose an attitude and outlook of daily excitement--in both the big moments and the ordinary.
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