But It's Easier!
My
youngest daughter has wanted to be a paleontologist for several years. At only age 7 I expect that she’ll change her
mind several times over and that’s fine.
We want to give her the freedom to choose and be whatever she feels God
is leading her in life. We’ve tried to
encourage her love of dinosaurs through various ways; even by last years
‘Dinosaur Dig Birthday Party.’ So when
she came home several months ago suddenly declaring she wanted to be a ‘Jewelry
Designer’, I was a little bit sad that the paleontology phase of her life had
ended. I didn’t question it much, but
tried to think of ways I could encourage her in this.
It’s
amazing what parents can learn about their children in long car rides. On our way up to Windsor Canada from Central
Ohio a few weeks ago, somehow the conversation got shifted to my daughter and
this sudden shift to ‘Jewelry Designer’.
“Mom,
it’s my choice.”
“Sweetie,
I’m not saying you can’t do this. I’m
just curious why you decided you’d rather be a jewelry designer versus a
paleontologist?”
“Well,
I have to go to school a long time to be a paleontologist. I don’t want to be in school that long.” We were the one that told her she’d have to
get her PhD to go into paleontology. I
guess she had been listening. “It’s my
choice mom!” She started to get really
defensive.
“It
is your choice,” I was trying not to laugh from the front seat as I yelled to
the back, “However, don’t ever make a choice in life over what you want to do
based on ease. If something is important
to you, then it’s worth taking the effort.”
I wasn’t sure she’d really heard me.
She was so quick to defend herself.
I ended it with a quick, “As long as you’re doing what you feel God has
for you, then go for it, no matter what it is.”
The conversation continued onto something else. However I noticed in the next few days, she
suddenly swayed back to paleontology.
Though I figure it’ll probably change again, I hope she doesn’t make any
major life choices based on ease.
Many
people do this in their own life. They
think they know what God has called them to do, suddenly start doing it and
realize that it may be too hard. They
start compromising, justifying to themselves that it’s their choice, and before
they know it they are far from where they knew they were supposed to be
life. They are miserable and upset at
God, when really it was the choices they made.
Proverbs 12:27 (MSG) A lazy
life is an empty life, but “early to rise” gets the job done.
Never be afraid to put in some good
hard work in life. Lazy people aren’t
ones that create legacies. They aren’t
ones that reach their destiny. Putting
hard work into something on faith is hard.
I know. I am the girl that is
working on my 19th book, and 18 of those are unpublished. I get it’s a challenge to constantly put in
hard work and not know when the payout is coming. But you can’t quit because you’d rather take
the easy way. You can’t stop just
because you’re lazy. You have to dig
deep and push harder. There is still
value in hard work and the payout will be greater than you can imagine. I would rather get to heaven one day and be
able to say to God, “I did everything I knew to do.” rather than get there and
say, “Yea, I just didn’t want to put for the effort.”
What are you avoiding starting to
work towards today? Are you in the midst
of the battle and wanting to quit? Are
you tired of not seeing the pay out that you have believed would be there one
day and it hasn’t happened yet?
Galatians 6:9 (ESV) “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in
due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Reach for your destiny, work hard,
and refuse to quit!
God has awesome plans for your
life. Get excited!
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