By TGIF!
Oh wait, it’s Thursday.
Do you ever have those days where you think it’s Friday when in all reality it’s not?
I don’t know about you, but for me that is downright disappointing. You get your hopes all up, excited that it’s the last day of work before your weekend starts. It doesn’t matter if your Friday is actually on a Friday or if it’s on some other day of the week, what matters is that it’s your last day of work before you get some days off.
We all love the weekend. For most of us, the work week is over and we get to do our own thing… or at least not be at our job. We may still have responsibilities and things to do, but just knowing it’s the weekend somehow makes it seem all the better… or maybe that’s just me? I don’t know, but I know that it just seems more enjoyable for the most part.
Sometimes, we can long for the weekend so much so that we want to breeze through the week straight to the weekend. To be able to get some “me time” in there or just to slow down and enjoy life with our families. We all love that, right?
We long to enjoy our lives, which is natural. Sometimes, the weekdays can be so busy it makes it hard to actually be present and enjoy the moment. But what would happen if we stopped longing for the weekend to come quick and for the weekdays to fly by? What would it look like to be present and intentional even during the weekdays?
I know all too much about constantly longing for the weekend, even to that point that I mentioned above. I missed so many potentially good times and opportunities of sharing Christ from desiring for the weekend to come. It was like I missed the gift that was right in front of me: the present.
When I did that, I wasn’t enjoying my present moment, the gift God gave me, or making the most out of the moment. Instead, like an ungrateful child at Christmas, I whined about the present moment and longed for that future moment of the weekend.
Woof, that’s a pill hard to swallow. I… did that?
Truth was… yes. And I’m going to take a wild guess and say that I’m not the only one.
Going back to the question I asked earlier… what would it look like to be present and intentional even during the weekdays?
I often like to keep going back to this perspective. It keeps me in check. There’s so much you can miss out on — so many opportunities you can overlook if you don’t keep this perspective.
First of all, there are so many times in your day where you can sit back and just enjoy our moment, even during our busy, stressful weeks. It could be the commute to your job, a perfect opportunity to enjoy it. I like to just relax and look at the beauty of nature that God created. Moments like these in your day help keep you in the present, and can just bring joy to your day if you allow it to. You may only have five minutes, but spent right, you can enjoy those minutes to the fullest.
Secondly, if you are so apt to move quickly through your day to get to that desired moment in time, you may miss out on the opportunities God places in your path. Have to stop by the store before you can head home? Instead of being ultra focused and like a horse with its blinders, a good change would be to open your eyes to the people around you. There are so many people hurting in this world, and as believers we have the Comforter and the Light with us. God may place those people in your path for you to help encourage them and to share His light and joy with them.
I remember one day when I worked at Panera, I was working the cash register during the lunch rush when this woman came up to order her food. I gave her the time she needed (although it was super busy) and worked with her, helping her with her inquiries about ingredients and the likes. It was then that she noticed my name tag. At this point in time, I had made my own and below my name, I simply had written “John 3:16.” Through her seeing the Bible verse, she was reminded of the comfort of the Lord, and she proceeded to tell me how she just had lost her daughter.
It’s moments like this that you can miss out on when you just rush through your day. You can get tunnel vision and not see all that God is wanting to do in and through your life. Just like if I were to have rushed the woman that day, she may never have received the comfort and love of the Father.
So yes, weekends are great. We all love and look forward to our days off. But to desire them so much that we miss out on these moments and opportunities that happen in the midst of our week? To me, that’s more surviving than thriving. So look for these small, seemingly hidden moments and open your eyes to where you are in life — be fully present.
We were meant for more than just surviving the week. We are meant to thrive in it.
Time to get my head out of the gutter, I don’t know about you.
Until next time my friends 😉
Caleigh
An adventurer and coffee enthusiast at heart, Caleigh Ball has a passion for reaching out to others to inspire them to live with intention and purpose. As an ordained minister, she spends her time ministering as a youth pastor and is actively involved in Arise Ministries as the vice president and bookkeeper as well as one of the ministers. She enjoys life with her husband, Emmanuel, and their cat, Alaska, in their home state, Almost Heaven West Virginia.
Find Caleigh on Instagram at @caleigh.ball
by leaps and bounds 