Having retired from the workforce I find it interesting how people relate to the days of the week. Particularly the Christian perspective. We have the beginning of the week on Sunday, then Monday followed by Wednesday and then Friday. Saturday is when we take in a breath and Tuesdays and Thursdays are relegated to Senior Citizen days. Stay off the road! Wait! I'm a senior! The Christian actually begins their week with Monday when they have dreaded (for the most) returning to work. Not just another day in cubicle city but also another week of the same. Putting up with inane projects that will result in little more than some paperwork produced. Dealing with sick cubicle mates who come to work sick and then give you what they have. We go through our day waiting for quitting time. We tend to either take too many breaks or work through them. Lunch is about the same. Eating at your desk or in the "break room" is about as exciting as visiting a senior center during nap time. Mondays are not the most exciting days of the week for most.
Wednesday has more promise as it's been dubbed "hump day" or over the hump of the middle of the week. It's all downhill from there! We are beginning to gain a bit of momentum by the end of the day realizing that we have only 2 more days of work before we can go home for the weekend. Then on Friday we culminate the week by doing everything to prepare for going home and even leaving a bit early to beat the commute and settle into being off for 2 days. Often Saturday is set for doing laundry, chores, shopping, washing the car, taking care of the yard and such. Needless to say Saturday becomes another day of work. So on Sunday we are ready for that "day of rest". Except we don't rest. We get up whether our bodies want to or not, get dressed, have our coffee and head to church where we have another cup or two of coffee before sitting 1-1 1/2 hours listening to lessons we heard last year from a different Scripture. The afternoon is punctuated with the possibilities of friends or family coming over or you going to their house for some down time or a celebration. About 5:30-6:00 in the evening reality sits in and you begin to think about going to work in the morning. Unless you love your job dread begins to set in. Thus the work week has cycled and we are back to where we began.
For whatever reason the world has set Tuesdays and Thursdays as senior citizen days. They seem to come out in force for the sales, appointments and hindering traffic everywhere. Checkouts are slower, pharmacies are busiest, and baggers are helping more people put their bags of groceries into cars with madly yapping little dogs. Tuesdays and Thursdays won't change anytime in the future so we change to accommodate them. There are places and time I avoid going out because of this phenomenon.
The alternative to the above is to understand that every day is "the day the Lord has made and to rejoice in it." This would mean challenging the stereotypes we have learned and changing them. Do we go to work as if we are "working as unto the Lord."? Do we see cubicle city as our congregation for sharing the "hope that we have within us."? Can we allow the world to see what our bumper stickers say and live accordingly? That would mean really acting on "What Would Jesus Do?" bumper stickers. We would obey traffic laws because "God is my Co-pilot". People might avoid us if we truly "greet one another with a holy kiss." What would our bosses and associates say if we really believed that God could do anything through us? Would our status as firm believers and representatives of the "cornerstone the builders rejected" mean we could be trusted with more and "to them who do much more is given?" It's not complicated. It's a lifestyle choice. We can go through the 7 days of the week with the repetition of the past or we can challenge the day individually and make it the Lord's day. Everyday can be a day of rest if we are resting in God. If our life is truly His, what would he like us to do in HIS day?
Instead of Friday being a box, we can live outside of the box and be "all that God wants us to be." Without the box there is no constraints on "what God can do." Instead of dread of the cycle we can be excited to see what God has planned and bringing about. Our slavery to the messages of the past and repetition of dread taught to us can be exchanged for freedom in Christ who "truly sets us free." This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. You decide whether you apply this to your day or not. The choice of whether or not it is what it's stated to be is not yours. God has already created all the days, hours, minutes and seconds of every day of our lives. We can choose to live them to the fullest or believe that what we have is all we will ever get. It's your choice and always has been. Choose this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15. It's your choice.
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