Easy

My mind rushes back to a time when my husband and I embarked one of the biggest challenges of our lives, starting and running a small business together.  It was exciting at the beginning, but through many tears, trials and roadblocks, (entwined I admit with many blessings too) there was a time when we almost gave up.  But I can still hear my mother-in-law’s wise best advice, “You didn’t get into this to give up.”  So, we kept going.  In my own naive mind, I kept thinking, “Well, if we make it to this plateau, things will be easier.”  However, as you most likely guessed, it wasn’t always easy.   Haven’t we all had times that we pleaded with God for all our challenges to go away or just get a little easier?   A recent quote that I found put that thought in a different perspective and hopefully will be helpful for you.  “If all that you’re praying for is an easy life, what you’re really praying for is the absence of life.”  Stop!  Read it again.  Eye-opening, isn’t it?  If we wished for all our past, present and future troubles to disappear, what kind of person would we be looking at in the mirror every day?  If it was all easy, I wouldn’t truly appreciate all the small and large gifts I’ve been given during my lifetime or understand all the glory goes to God, even in all our trials.   If everything was always easy, void of troubles and challenges, what fun would it be to celebrate our good times?  Frankly, reading about all the trials and challenges that Jesus sacrificed for you and me, along with the thousands  of Christian martyrs along the way, I should be honored for all the mountains that I have climbed on my journey of faith.  God has given us the strength to handle all our individual mountains along the way – HIM!  Maybe we don’t always understand why our life isn’t as easy as the next person, or maybe we sometimes feel sorry for ourselves when the word easy isn’t part of our vocabulary.  But I would challenge all of us to see our challenges as little detours that lead us to follow the best roadmap.  Jesus is just preparing us for the life that only He desires for each of us.  The challenge that His Father gave Him to change the world was no easy task, but He did it for you and me.  So, don’t we owe it to Jesus to pick ourselves up every day and give thanks for everything, both the easy and difficult? 

“You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.  We will go up and fight just as the Lord our God commanded us. Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.’”  Deuteronomy 1:41