“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again— my Savior and my God!” Psalm 43:5 NLT

I woke up with this overwhelming feeling of sadness, bordering on despair. And it’s Monday! One thing led to another and soon I found myself doing math… which is a REALLY bad sign. I multiplied the weeks of my life and found that there have been about 3,444 Monday’s in my life! An action which is strange, because Mondays’ never ever bothered me. Maybe it’s a coincidence?!?

Last week I was FORCED to cut my grass, which I hadn’t been able to do because of rain. But it got so high, I couldn’t put it off any longer. What usually takes about an hour took 3. The wet grass just stuck, like green mushy goo, underneath my lawnmower. But as I said, I HAD to get it done. Today… I have to do it AGAIN. And it’s Monday!

As I said, through all my years of working, I never had a problem with Mondays. To me, it was just another day. Having preached on Sunday’s now for over 22 years, Monday’s can sometimes be tough. After a hard week of trying to lead sheep, Monday’s can sometimes make me feel like I’m a goat herder instead.

Mushy, messy, sticky grass can be scraped off of a mower deck. It isn’t that easy when it’s covering a brother or sister in Christ. And when it sometimes sticks to ME…it can slowly shut me down. The call of ‘The Master’ to shepherd His sheep is a serious one… coming with DOUBLE judgment for failure. I take ‘The Call’ even MORE seriously than keeping my lawn in shape. Which CAN cause me even MORE harm. But why am I writing this??

The answer is strangely easy. Because David did! David, a man after God’s own heart, had bad and sad days too! As a young lad in the pastures, His relationship to God grew because HIS sheep didn’t talk to him. So he focused on his relationship with God. Whether up or down, in or out, he wrote about it. Writing just seems to help break down and analyze the situation.

I realize that a messy Monday is my own fault! When I start looking around and evaluating who’s in or out, who’s growing and who not, who’s following and who’s just being stubbornly stupid… I can EASILY get into trouble. Why? Well, since ‘evaluating’ is NOT my job, ‘I’ need to work hard to avoid it… or get messy!!

We are studying James at FLAP and the ladies are studying how to be an Ezer Kenegdo. It stands to reason that getting this focused on focusing on Jesus tends to bring out Jesus’ enemies in full force. I thank God that MY EK just reminded me to “put my hope in God, and praise Him!” Which is EXACTLY what David said… and did! So I’m on my way!

Happy Monday to ya’ll!