Essential Monday

Essential Monday 

by RObYN Tillery 

            Ahhh, Monday. The day that comes screeching around the bend just past Sunday. Always coming in way too fast and abrasively shoving itself in your face, arriving unwanted and unneeded, whether you like it or not. 

             I sometimes feel like Monday: dejected and rejected and wished away. Monday and I, we have a kinship of sorts. Neither of us are the most celebrated, nor the most anticipated nor the one that always seems to put a smile on people's faces. We both just want to be accepted. 

             Okay, so maybe Monday doesn't really care about being accepted but I do, and I'm willing to bet you do, too. You know, the kind of genuine acceptance that happens when you belong. When you are a part of a friend group, a family. When you are important. Connection, acceptance, community are basic human needs, yet we don't talk too much about them, or the lack thereof. 

             In a world more and more detached by the deceptive feeling of connectedness of social media and internet, the despondent feelings from lack of attachment increase.

             There's myriad reasons why disconnection is so prevalent. Sometimes we feel like we don't belong because of childhood trauma; maybe abuse or neglect or something else that damaged those familial ties.  Sometimes that acceptance eludes us because of bad relationships where we are taken advantage of, and our spirit is ground down. Sometimes we feel unimportant because somewhere along the way we forgot who we are. Maybe we have let a combination of these situations start to define us, to make us feel like a misfit or a throwaway. 

But do you know where we do belong? Where we are accepted? Who thinks we are important? 

Isaiah 43:1 says, "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."

And John 6:37 declares, "All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away."

Then there's Luke 12:6-7..."Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."

So, next time that feeling of dread comes over you because Monday is sneaking up on you, remember these few things:

Someone's baby was born on a Monday.

Someone heard "I love you" for the first time on a Monday.

Someone got good news on a Monday.

Someone learned a lesson on a Monday.

Someone enjoyed a day at the beach on a Monday.

Just like you and me, it does belong and is important.

We just have to remember to whom and why. 

Robyn is just a woman trying to make sense of, and find beauty in, this crazy world.