Much in life is a challenge. Work, kids, faith – these are just some of a long list of challenges we all face. But here is the thing – too often we think having challenges isn’t how it should be. Shouldn’t life be easier?
Here is what I learned – life is hard but you often get to pick your hard. I was thinking this through with a friend. She is in a job where she isn’t really happy – but she is good at it and it has some real benefits. Her choice is to move into a new job where she’d have to push to get some things going, and it would be uncertain and could fail. Both choices are hard – it is hard to stay when you aren’t happy but it is hard to go and begin again.
How does this relate to stewardship (our focus right now in worship)? I believe we are gifted with this one amazing life. How will we live it? Will we try to avoid hard things, thinking that hard things are too much for us? Or, will we recognize that life is full of hard things and the challenge is to figure out which hard things we want to give our life to?
Today I got up and thought about the hard things I am doing. And I felt glad because they are hard things that are worth doing. Of course, sometimes I don’t want to do them. That’s just human nature. When I feel that way I just tell myself: Nicole, You got this. You can do hard things. So today remember, the call of stewardship is to recognize the gifts we have received and to make the best use of them, even when it is hard.