Embracing the Uncomfortable

So we've got our goals written down, our mind pumped up, and the new year looks victorious! Then...we get leg cramps from going to the gym after a 5 month break, we come home from work exhausted and would rather drive through than eat the salad we diligently prepared ahead of time, and our word count is lacking for the day. The recliner looks better than the computer chair. UNCOMFORTABLE = QUIT!

Somebody posted a cute, and very true, snippet on Facebook last week. "It's time for my traditional January 1 through January 3rd diet." Something like that. I don't want to give up this year on my goals. I know you don't either. We have to face the fact that our pumped up drive and resolve will face the Enemy. 

Maybe we could look at UNCOMFORTABLE as our friend. He (let's make him a 'he', good looking, and our cheerleader, lol) gets us there, teaches us discipline, wants the best for us. Wait, that's Jesus! He's beautiful, encourages us with His Word, so wants the best for us. 

So I'm wrapping my arms around Uncomfortable. Are you with me? Normally I try to write about encouraging things, life through Love Colored Glasses. This is maybe a negative take on it, but it's where I am now.

Where are you? How do you fight the Uncomfortable?

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31

Daily Faithfulness

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

What in the world did Jesus do for thirty years before he started his ministry? Fully 10/11ths of His life on earth was spent in Nazareth. Possibly Joseph died when Jesus was young. He was not mentioned in the accounts of Jesus’ ministry or crucifixion. First-born Jews took care of their families. Jesus had a mother and siblings to look after and he was a carpenter. He knew the daily details of business, of working with customers, of supporting his family. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and God said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus had not yet done the first miracle. He had simply been faithful to his family and to God – for thirty years! What a tremendous motivation for us to persevere in our daily duties; to carry out with faithfulness and love those invisible tasks that make a life for those under our care.

We look forward to the day when He says to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Father, when I don’t want to go to work or do the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and bills, help me to remember the Lord Jesus laboring over a piece of wood, or seeing to the needs of his mother and siblings. Give me grace to work faithfully, diligently, and with love and grace. In the Name of the One who is Faithful and True, Amen.