Life Is Not Easy

No one ever promised that life would be easy. If anyone has promised that, it was a lie, and that person should be smacked. Jesus even said that He came to give abundant life, a full life - not an "easy life".

I don't know why started with that thought this morning. I just got off the phone with Trace's basketball coach, asking my wife to help out with getting trophies for the team banquet coming up in March. I'm thinking about tonight's small group, about the prospects of business travel next week, about having some time with my wife at the beach without kids this weekend. I'm thinking about speaking for a college/singles group in a couple of weeks, about meeting with the pastor and small groups coach tomorrow, about starting the Sunday morning thing in a few weeks at church. I find myself busy and productive and getting things done, and I see that some things are paying off in little ways.

And none of it is easy. The easy parts are the self-absorbed lazy parts. The easy parts are the mindless and numb parts. I don't know if that makes sense or not - it's just that the things I think might be "easy" are things that don't actually bring a return, and that might set me backward. Easy thing would be to not get involved at church, to tell the leaders that I'm just not ready or that I don't feel God leading me there. Easy thing would be to say no to the speaking engagement, not having to worry about what to speak on, how to package something from God. Easy thing is to tell the kids to watch cartoons upstairs when we'd rather watch something other than Spongebob. Easy thing is to not pray and to not read the Bible, just listening to the voices in your head for guidance and direction. Easy thing is not trying to be polite and nice to people, not making the effort to make things right. Easy thing is ignoring someone in need, not turning out of my rut to offer assistance.

Life is not easy... or at least when it is, we might be doing it all wrong.