by Jerry Lewis

Mondays are Mondays. The first day of the work week. Kids coming back to school having experienced all kinds of weekends. Some of you face the week ahead with dread, others with anticipation. It’s Monday.

And while you slept last night, God was working. Remember our paradigm shift in thinking of the fruit of the Spirit. God is at work in the silent, hidden spaces. Where no one can see, God sees best. Where nothing can impact, God can.

Have you ever seen a tree growing through a sidewalk? At some point, underneath the concrete in the dark soil, an acorn split open and an oak tree began to grow. Oh it didn’t look like an oak tree. It actually didn’t look like anything to anyone because no one could see it. Yet all the time it was growing. On this Monday, be reminded that the Father is working though you may not feel it or see it. That’s why Paul used the metaphor or fruit. Remember that spiritual growth is gradual, but thankfully inevitable. After all, how could someone as great as the Spirit live in you and not cause you to grow! It is also internal and symmetrical. You won’t be kind and lack self-control. You won’t have peace and also be impatient.

Here’s a prayer to start your Monday…and your week.

Father, I thank you that you see what I can’t see. You know me better than I know myself, understand my thoughts from afar. As your word says in Psalm 139, before a word is on my tongue you know it all. I cannot hide from your presence nor do I want to. Today I run to you and wait for you to do what you alone can do. I celebrate your work in me, yes, Christ in me the hope of glory! In the name of the one who died, resurrected and ascended, making this kind of life possible. Amen.