Meredith Bernard

Monday, Monday. Anyone else dread Monday? Why would I dread Monday, you ask? I am a stay-at-home-mom with little to nothing pressing to do. Ha! Monday’s have to be the devil’s playground. So many things to do leftover from a weekend of not doing what you wanted to do and then it rained and you didn’t get to do anything outside and because your kids were cooped up inside you didn’t get anything done inside you really wanted to do, either. Got that? In my determination to do things “new” and “better”, I’d like to give my Monday’s to God and not Satan. To prepare for my week. Plan my meals. Start the week with a clean house. A fresh start to a new week. Really, this shouldn’t be so hard. If I wasn’t so perfectly imperfect maybe it wouldn’t be. I did start my day singing “This is the Day the Lord has made…” to my son. In my efforts to start his day off right, realizing I woke him up with my singing was probably not the nicest thing I could have done. I actually plan on spending the day with my best friend and her daughter cleaning our much neglected horses and barn. That sounds like a plan of success to me. After all, the housework will be here when I can get around to it, right? I guarantee you spending my day outside in mud with friends, my children and some of God’s best creation with four legs will start my week better than more time in my house getting nothing accomplished.

Hoping you get to start your week on the right foot…or the left foot…whichever one gets you going and going straight for a week of purpose. A week devoted to service. Remembering this…we know not how many more Monday’s we have left. What is really important? Do it…Today. Say it…Today. Live it…Today. I know what is important to me. Asking that same question Pilate asked…”What shall I do with this Jesus they call Christ?” What shall I do with Him today? What shall you do with Him today? What if it’s your last Monday. Make it count.

James 4: 13-15 (ESV)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

A blank page. That’s what I see. In some ways that’s how I feel. Perfectly imperfect. The overused “New Year…New You” statement keeps coming to mind. Sometimes I feel like I’m always being renewed. Re-made. Re-worked. I’ve had it on my heart and mind to create a blog where I can just write. I seem to have passions for many areas that I never feel quite up to par in. There is writing…I’ll try to work that out here. There is photography and I followed that hair-brained dream turned reality into a business this past year. Feel free to follow that journey here (under construction for a new site coming in April…yes, the “new” theme is rampant in my life right now.) I have a passion for singing…and God definitely did not bless with me with pipes to bless others…but I believe He enjoys my shower sonnets and my kids and I enjoy some loud moments of praise with hands lifted in my truck!

I came home from church this morning with a strong desire to finally get this blog going. Enough thinking. Time to do. Today’s sermon got me thinking. A lot. The question posed was from Matthew 27:22. As Jesus was standing drenched in his own blood from scourging, wearing a crown of thorns on his by then swollen and unrecognizable form, awaiting his “fate” from the people He came to serve and save, the man in charge of his release or death asked the crowd, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” You know the rest of the story. His people chose his death. It was his fate. It became our hope.

The question raised then, beckons still now. In my life. In your life. We choose daily to deny or follow Christ. A choice to be indifferent is still a choice. I want to choose Him. I want to be a “better” daughter to my Savior. I want to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend…the list goes on. I want to. I really do. But above all, I want to choose daily to do something with my Christ. I want to love Him more. Better. I want to serve Him more. Better. I hope by hashing my thoughts out here I can start the journey to answering this question daily. And to always and forever answer the question of what I am doing with my Christ…for His glory. Always for His glory. Only for His glory.

Will I fail? Yes. I’m perfectly imperfect, remember? But He’s not done with me yet. Praise the Lord, He’s not done with me yet.