What I’m Carrying Into This Monday (and What I’m Not)
Monday is here—and I’m going to shoot straight with you.
This is a season where there is a lot on the mind that needs to get into motion. Today, I feel like I’m carrying a lot from a variety of angles.
There are plans to formulate, purposes to canonize, projects to finish, projects to start, people to empower, and meetings to prepare for—all aimed at moving the ball forward on a number of initiatives.
And if I’m honest, when the task list starts to feel insurmountable, I know my patterns.
I grow anxious.
I dismiss help.
I locate the nearest distraction so I can push the project down the road until it’s urgent enough that I have no choice but to get it done.
None of those things are helpful. And all of them are antithetical to actually doing good, faithful work.
Because of that, over the last couple of weeks I’ve known something: I’ve needed to put boundaries on myself—not because the work isn’t important, but because the energy required to execute is drawn from a limited source. That’s a real variable we have to contend with, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Executing from exhaustion rarely produces excellence—no matter how important we believe the work to be.
Full transparency: the last week didn’t pan out with the routine and discipline I had hoped for. So today, I’m not pretending that didn’t happen. I’m simply choosing to pick something else up so I can be sure to put a few things down.
Going into this Monday, I’m picking up a “walk-out-the-door” time on my calendar. And when that time hits, the load of unfinished tasks gets dropped.
Because while we often approach Mondays with ideals, process and execution require a strong dose of reality to be productive and purposeful.
So here’s a reality worth being reminded of today:
You aren’t enough to accomplish everything.
Nice pep talk for a Monday, right?
But it’s the truth—and more importantly, it’s not a flaw. It’s a design feature.
You were never supposed to accomplish everything today.
Jesus said it plainly in Matthew 11:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Notice what Jesus doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say the work goes away.
He doesn’t say responsibility disappears.
He doesn’t promise efficiency.
He promises rest through relationship.
He promises a shared burden.
He promises a yoke that fits because it’s carried with Him.
Mondays—whether they’re the busiest of Mondays or the chillest of Mondays—have a way of exposing what we’re trying to carry alone.
So maybe the starting point for today isn’t asking, “How do I get it all done?”
Maybe it’s asking, “What was I never meant to carry in the first place?”
For me, that means putting a few things down so I can stay rooted, present, and human in the work I do engage.
It’s a posture change. And changes in posture require an adjustment in trust.
It means trusting that the things meant for today will get done today. It means trusting that if tomorrow comes, it will have room to accomplish tomorrow things tomorrow. It’s trusting that the God who calms the seas and pushes back the wind sees me and knows me and has a vision for the things that need to be accomplished when they need to be finished.
And maybe that’s the invitation for you too.
Not to do less because the work doesn’t matter—but to trust that faithfulness was never meant to be carried alone.
