My best friend found the remedy for Mondays this week.

At the beginning of the semester, we both met a challenge that has been daunting at times. Some of the greatest friends we have ever had decided to study abroad, leaving us for fifteen weeks. Now, this doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, it is merely a short amount of time, and surely we can make friends in between their departure and return. But, when I say these people are family, I mean it.

We miss them like crazy even though we are still having a great semester. And one day, my roommate decided to make a count down for when they would return. For some reason, she decided to count down the Mondays until we would see them again. This has now sparked an anticipation for Monday that has never existed in my entire life.

Before I dreaded Mondays. It was the day after my favorite day of the week, Sundays, which always felt like the day after Christmas: depressing. And it was the start of five grueling days of early mornings and late nights, chalk full of stress in between. But now Mondays seem like birthdays. It’s a gift to check off one more date on our calendar because it signifies one less week of distance between my family and I. Mondays went from tough to terrific because of one simple check mark.

Then it hit me. This can be applied to anything dreadful in life. If you ever find something painful to do immediately switch your mindset on something positive to make it through. It took creating a flimsy countdown on a piece of scrap paper for me to start loving what I dreaded a lot, and to be positive through something painful.

My best friend has taught me something important this week: make sure your hope is in something immutable and everlasting. Because if it is, the present hardships don’t seem so bad after all. When your hope is filled with blessed assurance, you can walk through life with your head up, your back straight, and a heart full of confidence. Promised future because of true hope allows for present joy.

So what are your dreaded Mondays? And what can you make a countdown for in order to look forward to your Mondays instead of running away from them? Where are you going to put your hope? Is it in something possible, or something promised?

You can start living currently with joy because God has promises He cannot and will not break. This is hope in our present trouble, which switches despair into delight.