A sniff of the full blown condition usually sets in around 5 pm, Sundays.

As I write this, it’s a Monday, and I think I’ve got it bad.

My best friend doesn’t need to consult the calendar to tell it’s a Monday. Most times, her 3-year-old boy will do it for her. At 7 am at the breakfast table, his glance will shift; first to her, then to his baby brother, then back to her. He’ll know it’s now just the three of them, for the next five days. Spontaneous outings for ice creams, family picnics and the 50% boost in parental attention are out. Appointments, grocery shopping and eating all his vegetables are in. He’ll sigh, look like he has tasted something that’s long gone expired, and then settle into the first day of the week.

I totally get what he’s feeling. Social stuff wraps up Sunday night and then it’s time to bunker down for the 7.30 start, Monday morning. Time schedules start, spontaneity dies, and I have to work, embracing both its mundaneness and monotony. I’m a bit slower walking into work and little more distracted.

Medically, anything with the suffix ‘itis’ means there’s some sort of inflammation. You know you’ve got some ‘itis’ when heat, pain, redness and swelling and ‘loss of function’ are involved. Inflammation isn’t a synonym for infection, but it describes the body’s immune and vascular response, whatever the cause may be. In my case, Mondays.

Inflammation can be further classified as either ‘acute’ and ‘chronic’.

Acute inflammation is the initial response of the body to harmful stimuli and is achieved by the increased movement of the body’s protective cells from the blood into the injured tissues.
Chronic inflammation leads to a progressive shift in the type of cells present at the site of inflammation and is characterised by simultaneous destruction and healing of the tissue from the inflammatory process.

I don’t want to suffer Mondayitis, chronically. The repeated response of ‘bunkering down’ to get through the day causes an adaptation process that lacks health.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” ‭

‭Colossians‬ ‭3:23‬

This verse encourages me because it includes Mondays. It evens out my perceived ‘good’ and ‘bad’ days and provides a constant opportunity to magnify Jesus in my living. Both work and play.

Mondays are certain to come around every week. I might suffer some acute inflammation, but I’m keen to let the protective ‘cells’ get to work. I’m reinforced by the fact that there is meaning in the mundane and better still, there is a God I get to work for, on the blank canvas where the week begins.

So, I’m going to cheers those morning coffees with my buddy (probably metaphorically) and get stuck into what’s in front of me, hopefully, inflammation- free.