I
don’t really know who they are and sometimes, I’m not so sure I agree with what
they say. On the one hand I do. I totally get it. On the other hand, somewhere
in this phrase and how it gets used, is something like a motivational pill which
many of us swallow.
I wonder if we know what we’re swallowing.
What I see is that when the going gets tough, the tough often
get stuck. Those who, like me, keep trying to do better, try harder, and believe
more, but just find themselves unable to go very far. Sometimes, they can’t move
forward at all.
So, how do we get going when the going gets
tough?
We tell ourselves we can. And we can. There’s a lot we can do
and it’s often more than we think we can. It’s important to remember there are
is so much we can do.
Even so, what we can do and how we can do it, well,
there’s a world of difference between two primary means.
We have choices
to make. We can choose the way of man or the way of God. We choose our way or
His.
When things are hard, our human inclination is to follow the
proverbial protocol of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We muster up the
strength. We look in the mirror and remind ourselves of all the things we want
to hear and we choose to put on courage so we might forge a way
through.
Who’s courage is it? Where does it come from? How are we brave
in the face of hard circumstances?
Perhaps we do everything it takes to
make our own way and it surprises ourselves and others around us. We might carry
on in this manner for years, even decades, or a lifetime of
weariness.
We’ve become so accustomed to the axes and shovels we carry to
forge our own clearings that we often don’t notice the mess we’ve left
behind.
We don’t see the way already paved for us. The way through has
been made possible because the Son of God went ahead of us.
Eventually,
when things get really, really hard, we realize that our strength only goes so
far. What we’ve mustered up internally starts to putter out externally. Our
ways of courage are found wanting when they lack the fiery renewal made possible
by the Holy Spirit.
We forget that we don’t have to do this on our
own strength. We can’t. Not for the long haul anyway. Not if we’re desirous of
following Jesus way and receiving all He offers.
Have you felt the weight
of the tools you’ve carried and collected over the years? Are you tired of
fighting to make it on your own?
It’s time to start doing something
different. It’s time to start making choices that help cultivate a life
well-lived.
Eventually, many of us find ourselves realizing human
limitations met by supernatural affections. We may not recognize it when it’s
there, but God is always working for our full reconciliation and so we, as ones
who belong to the kingdom of heaven, are caught in the throes of eternal longing
and fallible human striving.
What will we do when we awaken to this kind
of tension, the one between our will and God’s?
Will we realize that
we’ve been choosing our way and not His? Will we let our hearts shake and
shudder so that in this we find the sweet kind of surrender which changes
everything?
What will we choose?
As I’ve looked back at
numerous times of struggle in my own life, I’ve noticed how we are given the
gift of choosing. We have choices which allow us the opportunity to get up again
and again. They help us get going when things are tough because truly, in
Christ, we can.
If we want to stop feeling that heavy weight. If we want
to see the way already made for us so we can walk in it. If we want to stop
living stuck and start living well, we need to start making choices.
The
first choice we need to make is that we need to Choose God.
His ways. His
plan. His timing. Choose God over your own agenda, over the ways and means of
your self and others.
We need to turn our minds and thoughts to God so we
can start seeing where he’s taking us and what he’s doing. {Note: if you don’t
have a relationship with Christ already and are curious to know more, please
email me.}
When we choose God, we choose the one who created us, who gave
us life, who redeemed our lives with the cost of His own son’s so we could live
free. We choose the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Choose all of
Him.
Today, you can start making choices towards living well by
choosing God above all else.
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve
the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers
served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land
you dwell. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. ~ Joshua
24:15
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
~ Psalm 119:30
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:25
[written
by Jolene Underwood]
