I can’t tell you how long I’ve sat in front of notebooks, computer screens, or my phone, not accomplishing anything lately. Maybe deciding what to do, maybe wondering what to type, or sometimes just sitting, knowing I’m just not going to accomplish anything.
This is a season. It’s a super difficult season. But really, aren’t they all? Like, 10 months ago, I sat on a bunk in a home with 20 other recovering men, in the middle of nowhere, completely cut off from everything I’ve ever known. It was a difficult season.
Before that, I was drunk, smoking weed in my bedroom, angry at absolutely everything, yelling at my family. Poor, lazy, arrogant, and jealous. It was a hard season.
And, I have a prediction; maybe next season will be difficult as well?
So I must ask myself, as the Lord has asked me so many times this year; “What am I looking at?”
Sometimes, the things we are going through are actually a lot of fun. Sometimes what we see as difficult, someone in a completely different circumstance would see as an amazing, amazing opportunity.
I like to play tennis with my middle child. She is a bright, redhead and loves to be active. She’s good at a whole lot of things. But tennis, not so much… She struggles, almost instantly, to stay on the court and hit the ball. But instead of toughing it out, working out muscles and learning to hit the ball correctly, she slacks. She stops trying hard and sort of, gives up. The challenge is seemingly, just, too tough. So we never actually get to the real fun, the tough play, the real good games…
One time, I picked up a shift from the staffing agency, where I had to wash dishes. All day. So I popped in my headphones and grooved.
It wasn’t awful, but it was super boring. Not challenging at all and though I was in good spirits about it, I wouldn’t necessarily seek more opportunities of the kind. Buuut, it was money, and good money too.
As I sprayed and scrubbed hundreds of dishes, over and over again, I prayed. And at one point God asked me, “Are you having any fun?”
“It’s not terrible but, not really,” I replied.
“Do you wanna play hacky-sack?” He continued.
“Um, wait what? Like, in my head?” I questioned. “That wouldn’t be any fun, Lord, I would never drop it; it’d be too easy.”
“So the fun is in the challenge?” I felt — was His answer.
Well, now… I suppose that to be true. It made me think. And honestly, ever since then, I’ve gravitated toward difficult challenges. Because I figured, if I continued to see difficulty as a bad thing, and easy was what I wanted, then I would really not have any more fun in life. Because growth is difficult. And stagnancy is boring.
At some point I realized that hard things are great, because they are hard.
No one cares if you are an expert at boiling noodles. I don’t care how much time or money you try to put into professional noodle preparing, you’re only going to get so far. Almost everyone can boil noodles, and if you can’t, it doesn’t take much to learn.
Try building 400 foot buildings with noodles? You may get famous.
It’s important to adjust our sights.
Isaiah 55:8-9- “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
What are you looking at? And from what perspective are you seeing?
If it’s too hard now, it will always be too hard. But here’s the thing; everything is too hard for us and; nothing is too hard for God.
If we get stuck looking at life, seasons, and tasks as too difficult, it is a sure-fire sign that we are not looking with faith. That we are not lifting our sights to the level of Christ.
This is exactly why Paul says that he “rejoices in his sufferings.”
Proverbs 14:23 says “All hard work brings profit.” This means — if it’s hard — it’s worth it!
I have a job interview tomorrow, in another city. My Bride’s city. And bombshell…
She’s allowed me to move in with her.
Now I sit, staring at the screen, like it’s the barrel of a gun, looking into a new season that’s seemingly too difficult for me.
But, I lift my eyes to the Lord…my thoughts to His level, and I step up in faith. “For with God, all things are possible.”
Let’s get to the good games.
In a couple of weeks, if all goes as planned, I’m moving in with my Bride and our five daughters.
And the restraining order will still have two weeks on its sentence.
The Lord is my confidence and my strength.
Keep reading. It’s really getting good now.
– God Exists –
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