Sometimes I feel like nothing I'm doing is working. Do you have those days too? those months? those years? Please say yes.
Everyone enjoys success, accolades, affirmation, and results. For goodness sakes, we live in a time of "likes," "retweets," "shares," and "repins." There's built-in esteem builders and approval all around us, but the flip-side is that it also means there are many opportunities for feeling unsuccessful, lacking, and ineffective.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, test after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." -1 Corinthians 9:23-27
I've been thinking, lately, on the fact that all the areas in which I'm striving are all things that
TAKE TIME...
They are endeavors that do not get completed and quickly checked off the list, nor produce immediate results, nor offer a steady stream of validation:
- The job-well-done in motherhood may not be seen for years to come.
- There aren't any "likes" clicked for all the floors scrubbed in a month's time.
- Starting a school and a church are not checklist endeavors.
- A true friendship is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Blogging isn't either, it's easy to want to quit when you think you aren't making a difference.
- Well done, good and faithful servant doesn't come until the race is run.
"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psalm 46:10
If we focus on making much of ourselves, we will feel like failures. If we focus on making much of God, we will simply go where He leads, and leave the results to HIm.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." -Colossians 3:23-24
The most worthwhile pursuits are often the most challenging, and most likely to leave you feeling unsuccessful. Take heart, friend, you work for an audience of One, and He is the ultimate reward. Choose this day to worship and to make today about bringing glory to His work in you!