24 Days to Christmas, Monday, Dec 1 2025

“The Best Monday!”

This is the Best Monday this week, guaranteed.  Sure, it’s the only Monday this week, but, I must admit, it’s better than most.  Church was great this past weekend, a dental appointment was rescheduled to another day, clever Christmas commercials have made their debuts, and December has finally arrived. 

If you’ve noticed, December’s arrival signals the beginning of Hanukkah in just two weeks and Christmas a little over a week later.  In other words, we are experiencing a shortened Holiday Season this year because of Thanksgiving’s later arrival.  This really doesn’t mean much, except that our normal “to-do” list needs to be accelerated a little to fit everything in. 

List-makers don’t need my warning because they’ve been working on their list since before Halloween.  Procrastinators don't need my warning either, because regardless of what happens, they’re not going to tackle anything until much later.  Instead, this warning is  for the rest of us, who probably land somewhere else on the spectrum of Holiday preparation.  We neither love nor loathe Monday.  Our decision is made by the world that we encounter today.  If everyone we encounter is grumpy, we will be grumpy.  If everyone is joyful, we will also find some joy today.

Other people have a great influence on our attitudes.  Likewise, we have a direct influence on the people we will encounter, today and every day this Holiday Season.  Most of us can reasonably choose our words and actions.   Making a commitment to have a good Holiday Season begins in those two places:  be aware of the words we use and the actions we take.  Poor words and bad actions tend to hurt so badly that some people can never overcome the pain they experience because of them. 

This Season, we aren’t going to be perfect.  But the Best Day Ever doesn’t need to be perfect to be the best.   To be the best, the Best Day Ever just needs to be a day that we keep God first the entire day, so that our free will is also in conjunction with God’s Perfect Will.

If your day is like that, today will feel more like a Friday than a Monday.  It’ll be the best!

The Lord has done it this very day;  let us rejoice today and be glad.  (Psalm 118:24, NIV)