"Meanwhile the cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is Monday morning."
C.S. Lewis gave this thoughtful pause as he imagined the future joy we will know in heaven. Yes, it's going to be great… but right now we've got to wake up and address the mess.
Jesus doesn't lift us up out of the misery of Monday mornings, but asks us to follow Him into the fray. It's as if Jesus sees a mess and charges right into the middle of it, resolved to tackle the challenges ahead because He knows the eventual victory. "A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of the world," Lewis said, "and we are invited to follow our great Captain inside. The following Him is, of course, the essential point."
After many years of war, Lewis reflected on our natural yearning to avoid the chaos of this world and enter straightaway to glory of heaven. But this, he concluded, is a desire mingled with selfish ambitions in the midst of populations facing hardships in the present.
"It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter;" Lewis suggested, but "it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken." (Lewis, Weight of Glory)
In other words, if typical Monday morning attitudes are selfish, the result will be a longing for personal escape. But if we are shaped by the actual glory of heaven, the actual nature of God's presence, then Monday mornings will present a remarkable, blessed, challenge to us. The cross, with a crown of thorns and loving majesty is the instrument of life on this earth for this Monday and the week ahead.
The desire of heaven coupled with the desire of joy received in being present with God, if truly sought, will lead us to desire the same such wonder for those around us. If we are not lead by compassion for our neighbor, but see heaven instead as our eternal retirement plan (or somehow our just reward for employment), then we are not embracing the nature of the eternal glory of God –> only a gambled, torn remnant of His robe. For God's glory is never to be seized or grasped by the people He has made. Those who truly taste God's glory and look forward to immersion within it are naturally led to exude that hope and joy, to be overwhelmed by the altruism of the gift, and to follow the lead of the Giver.
Monday mornings are messy because another week of engaging in the mess of this world is before us. But such a task doesn't daunt the follower of Jesus, but rather presents an opportunity. We hold in our fragile lives a treasure to be shared with others.
"There are no ordinary people," Lewis concluded.
Not in the eyes of God is anyone unspecial. And so not in our eyes either should our neighbor receive less than us. May the desire for God's glory grow in our lives, so that we might grow in our desire for God's glory for this world… even as this week presents itself to us.
Monday morning are glorious. Monday mornings are another opportunity to see the Lord at work in our lives, in the lives of those around us, in our communities, our work, and wherever we go. As the hymn writer wrote “morning by morning new mercies I see”. In Zephaniah 3:1-5, we are told that that Lord is within the city, that he is righteous, that he does no wrong, and that every morning he dispenses his judgement, and every new day he does not fail.
God is active, and walking among us Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and everyday of the week. What a tremendous privilege it is that God is with us, and that we get to see God at work in our midst right here where we live and work today!