Skip to main content

Between the Tension



In life, there are both hard and easy things that must be done in order to grow as a person.  Now, we do the hard things in order to overcome life's challenges and experience growth, maturity and freedom. Hard things like having tough conversations while speaking the truth in love, apologizing with sincerity and humility, blessing a person who can't stand you.  However, equally as important, is knowing when to do the easy things.  What are the easy things?  Those small things that take minimal effort and are relatively inexpensive, but make huge differences in your life and in the lives of the people that you love and serve. Things like listening before you speak, giving your time and attention to someone in need of a listening ear, caring enough to ease the burden of someone in need of a break.

I've discovered that peace, joy and contentment is found between the tension of the doing the hard things that must to be done as well as the easy things that mustn't be ignored.  With all honesty, I screw this up at least once a week on some level, but with God's grace, I'm better than I used to be.  And so I thank God for the growth.  As my Shepherd guides me, I will continue to grow and keep learning the eternal lessons of life. 

"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake." David, Psalm 23




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 19: Write in Someone Else’s Voice

The Coward The boy’s voice awakened the man.   He found shelter in the abandoned school, in what was once, his school, his office.   Eleven, twelve, and thirteen year old students once ran down those halls, hurrying to their classes, hurrying to his English class. Now since the incident, no children survived that massacre.   That thought made the man shake with fear until he drifted off to sleep.   So when the man heard the boy’s voice screaming “Help Me!, Please Help Me!”   it shook the man from his sleep.   The man laid still.   His heart pounded as he waited to hear boy again.   “Help me! Please Somebody!” The man heard the boy loud and clear.   He could not pretend it was some animal or dream.   He knew it was a boy. And it paralyzed him.   The man clutched his knees to his chest and tucked his chin.   He took slow deep breaths, silent breaths, hoping the boy would believe he was on his own, ...

The Force of Divorce (part 1)

I don’t think we truly understand what divorce is and why God hates it. For example, if I gave you the Merriam Webster’s definition of divorce, the action or instance of legally dissolving a marriage , more than likely you'll find that definition insufficient. If you are divorced or your parents are divorced, you know that definition lacks depth and substance. It’s like a survivor of a devastating hurricane describing his experience as “I witnessed a tropical cyclone with winds of 156 mph that was accompanied by heavy rain thunder and lightning.” You know that surviving a category 5 hurricane is bit more involved than announcing a weather report. (Ask anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina.) And yet every survivor’s story is unique and personal. I especially believe we don’t get what divorce does to our children. I’m not saying that I completely understand it either. I’ve never been divorced, (not even close), but I do know how it affected me as a kid. ...

Real with God, Real with Life

One of the most entertaining, but pointless interactions with my kids is when they are telling me what they think I want to hear. They, of course, disagree because they're at a point of desperation. They're trying to convince me of something they think they want or need, all the while hoping that my already made up mind will change. When it doesn't, it's usually the end of the world. Again. In the process of growing closer to God, He made me aware of a similar pattern in own my life. For example, if I was in need of something from God, I thought it would be better to tell Him what I thought He wanted to hear from me, rather than what I really wanted to say. I struggled between feelings of guilt and a desire to express my maturity. The result usually ended up with me not being completely honest with myself and God. I've seen so many preachers endorsing a "blab it and grab it" approach to relating to God and calling it "holiness". I never...