When You're Stuck On A Monday
“Sometimes there is a reason why you can’t go back. You were never meant to. That world, that life, those habits, are behind you. ”
It’s Monday. Again. Too close to the beginning of the week to dream about the weekend. Monday’s can feel grey and a bit morose with nothing to look forward to but a long week of the same old thing. It’s Covid, after all.
Even pretending that Monday is really Saturday won’t change the fact that a whole week stretches ahead of you. And then another, and another. During Covid, not only does each day seem exactly like the one before, but so do the weeks, and the months. And soon you feel stuck.
To be (stuck) in a rut:
To become seemingly trapped or stuck in a mundane,
non-changing pattern of life, work, and/or
personal behaviour.
We all go through periods when we feel like we might be stuck in a rut. It can seem like you are just going through the motions, treading water, or jogging in place. You’re doing the same old things, but it doesn’t seem like you are actually getting anywhere. The longer you do it, the more hopeless it can seem.
Things that used to excite you may start to feel less interesting. Instead of moving forward toward your goals, you’re just digging yourself deeper and deeper into the same spot. Church may even be something you are tiring of online. And zoom calls. And the people in your bubble.
Verywellmind.com describes the symptoms of ‘rut living’ this way:
Every day seems the same. You might even have trouble remembering what day of the week it is. Is it Monday, or is it Friday? It doesn’t matter because your days feel indistinguishable from one another.
You feel like you’re just trying to get through another day. Your goal is just to keep putting one foot ahead of the other until the day is done.
You feel unmotivated. You might want to take on new projects or engage in creative tasks, but even when you try to do so, it feels like your well of ideas and motivation has run dry.
You feel unfulfilled. You want to try new things, but you just aren’t sure what they are or how you would do them. Just finding the motivation to get started seems impossible.
You want to change, but fear the temporary discomfort that may come with it.
You know that changing things up will make you happier in the long run, but you keep sticking with the status quo because it means you won’t have to risk any pain or failure.
When we become stuck in ruts too deep to dig ourselves out of,
God reaches down and pulls us out.
God does His best work when we are out of options.
When you come to the Red Sea, he parts the waters, for you.
When you are faced with an impenetrable wall, he breaks it open, for you.
When you are lost in the desert, he shows you the way in to the Promised Land, a future prepared for you.
Sometimes there is a reason why you can’t go back. You were never meant to. That world, that life, those habits, are behind you.
God is always about the new that is in front of you.
It is only your perception that you are stuck.
God is still propelling you forward.
You just may not see it.
Consider these truths:
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
Isaiah 43:19
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
Let God move you up and out of your rut. Let your motivation on Monday, and every other day of the week, be to believe that He created you to flourish, do great work and serve the world with what He has placed inside of you, even if you can’t see it now. He is not deterred by a season where you feel like you are walking in circles. He straightens your path, makes you strong for the journey ahead, and calls you to follow Him. When you are too weary to take the next step, He carries you.
Don’t be put off by another Monday. Consider it the start of something new. And watch what God does.
I believe in you.
Cathie