Monday Never Comes

I’ve struggled with food addiction and weight gain for as long as I can remember. At the age of 20, I was five-five and weighed more than 350 pounds. I was miserable. I felt like I was sentenced to be obese for the remainder of my life. A way of escape was nowhere in sight. I found joy where I could, and I enjoyed life as much as possible but deep inside I was sad, afraid and greatly disappointed with myself. There came a point in college when I decided to give my health a fighting chance. Over the course of 4 years, I lost 180 pounds naturally.

 In the world of weight loss people often say, “I am going to start my diet and workout plan on Monday.” We all have those things in life that we put off. We know that we really need to do them now, but for some reason we put them off until another point in time. Maybe we are intimidated by the process, or we think perhaps at a different point in time it will be easier to begin. However, the truth is, that future point in time rarely ever comes. We delay what’s urgent for our lives. This is the “Monday Mentality.” Monday does not necessarily refer to a literal day of Monday. It’s a metaphor for how many of us often approach life. Monday is the false belief that perhaps at some other point in time, other than right now, you will have more motivation and more drive to complete the task ahead of you or to pursue the dream, vision, or goal you have for yourself. We delay our dreams and romanticize the future as if it offers a unique ability to perform better than we would if we decided to live our dream today. Monday is an illusion. That perfect day isn’t coming.

How do we fight? How do we overcome? What’s the secret to success? I believe Jesus taught it to us in Bible. There’s a familiar passage in scripture where the disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them how to pray. And in this prayer that Jesus outlines for them, one lines reads, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In this prayer, Jesus teaches the disciples, and us, the importance of embracing the power, the sufficiency that God gives for us to live this present day, in this moment. I lost 180 pounds, one day, one decision at a time. Every single day God gives each of us our daily supply and with that daily supply we have the power to make a single choice, over and over again in any given direction. When we tap into our daily power, that is how we overcome the “Monday Mentality.” In his book, Win the Day, Mark Batterson states, “We have to guard the present against two threats, two thieves. The first is past-tense guilt. The second is future-tense anxiety. They come to kill, steal, and destroy. How do we guard against them? We make a pre-decision to enjoy the journey—no matter what, no matter when, no matter where!”

What are you seeking to conquer? Is it school, a career goal, an addiction, a toxic relationship? Regardless of what your thing is, we all have a thing, and like my battle with obesity, those things may seem impossible. Be encouraged. Today’s fight is met with today’s sufficiency. There’s no need to delay or shrink back. You can enjoy the journey only when you decide to take it one decision, one day at a time! Stop waiting for Monday. Stop allowing fear to paralyze you. We must continuously fight for our lives because MONDAY NEVER COMES!

Liana Sims  is a pastor at Common Good church in Seattle, an author and transformational speaker. Her Book Monday Never Comes is available on Amazon and on her website www.mondaynevercomes.com