Happiness and peace can be found daily through Jesus Christ, no matter the circumstances.
Monday. It’s safe to say this is one of the most universally dreaded days of the week. With Mondays come blaring alarms, project due dates, long commutes, and the weight of a stressful week ahead.
If you struggle to make it through Mondays, you aren’t alone. But there is power that comes as we learn not only to endure the seemingly mundane parts of life, such as Mondays, but to embrace them.
In a BYU devotional titled “Treasure the Day,” Sharon G. Samuelson describes her own struggles as a busy newlywed. She remarks, “I always seemed to have the ‘thank goodness it’s Friday’ mentality. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I was always looking forward to the weekends; thus I was not really enjoying the weekdays. I was happy on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays and a little depressed on the weekdays.”
Many of us struggle to enjoy where we are, and we may often experience an “I’ll be happy when…” mentality. Though each of us would finish that sentence differently, we often associate happiness with certain life events or circumstances. In reality, those moments come and go with no special bestowal of happiness. Sister Samuelson “realized that [her] time now was valuable and [she] should appreciate every day—not wish it away!”
As we look for happiness in the mundane moments of our lives, we will find true joy. Sister Samuelson encourages us to “enjoy life; be happy; have fun; be productive; give service and love to others; and, especially, be faithful.”
Read more about how we can overcome our “I’ll be happy when…” mentality in Sharon G. Samuelson’s talk “Treasure the Day.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Megan Hutchings, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY AUGUST DE RICHELIEU
Find more insights
Learn more about how to be happy in the article “Finding Happiness in Being Single” by Xochitl Bott.
Read or listen to Elder Marlin K. Jensen’s devotional “Living after the Manner of Happiness” to discover more about embracing the mundane.