Happy Monday: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Have you ever woken up to a day that feels, how shall I put it, blah? The weather is overcast. The days agenda for what lies ahead is the same old, same old. Your hair is flat and make up just isn't doing the trick to perk up your looks or your mood.
This isn't necessary a case of depression or even a day in the dumps. What you might be experiencing is what we Americans like to call "Monday."
You might think that the case of the Mondays only happens to those who wake up to the sound of an alarm and must trudge off to work after a blissful weekend away from the desk. But let me tell you, the Mondays happen to workers and non-workers alike. There is something inherent in the day itself that seems to foist a stale, lackluster mood onto us all.
Maybe it goes back to the childhood, grade school years - at least that's where I place my blame for lack of Monday enthusiasm. I never liked Mondays growing up. I loved Saturday and Sunday best of all. Let's just say I wasn't school's number one fan. I was, and still am, a home body. I left my house each morning and immediately started the hourly countdown till the final bell rang that would release me from the confines of the prison, I mean, school I attended. Needless to say graduation was one of the greatest days of my twenty four years thus far.
So you see this is why I blame my dislike for school on my dislike for Mondays. Somewhere out there on Monday there is a kid just like me wishing it were still the weekend, wishing they could just stay home and not go to the institutional setting of a classroom with a blackboard, stern teacher and cruel students. Somewhere there is a kid who just wants to stay home with Mom, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch instead of standing in a cafeteria line picking through a blob of mystery meat. Somewhere there is a child who is sitting in class, embarrassed to raise their hand and ask a question for fear of mockery and snickers from fellow classmates. I get that kid. And I get why they don't ever want Monday to come.
Today I'm baking for that kid. I'm baking them a cake because on Monday, after a day spent back at an uncomfortable desk in a room flooded with harsh fluorescent lights and the stinging smell of disinfectant, there is nothing better than a cake sitting on the kitchen counter, freshly frosted and waiting to be enjoyed.
I can't bake a cake for every child who suffers from the case of the Mondays but I can bake a cake for the kids in my life who got up this morning and were met with the sight of school uniforms and lunch boxes. I pray that their day wasn't one of endless torture as they watched the clock, but I couldn't blame them if it felt tedious and never ending as they sat in the confines of a school that feels like a world away from home.
This cake is a cake to celebrate that even Mondays spent in school give way to Tuesdays. The dismissal bell always rings. The bus always takes you back home. And a pair of play clothes is always waiting in the drawer.
And, as hard as it is to believe in elementary school, Mondays are a day made by the Lord. They are beautiful in His sight no matter how dreaded they may feel to you and I. Monday can be just as blessed and beautiful as Saturday and Sunday if we choose to look at the glory of God in our mopey Monday. 
So here's a cake to kick off the week! May yours be one of immeasurable goodness and bountiful blessings! Happy Monday.

For your own Happy Monday cookie cake creation visit Sally's Baking Addiction for this chocolate chip cookie cake. (Hand written message was my own personal touch.)