Originally published Thursday, 28 September 2017.
They say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
I don’t really know who they are and sometimes, I’m not so sure I agree with what they say. On the one hand I do. I totally get it. On the other hand, somewhere in this phrase and how it gets used, is something like a motivational pill which many of us swallow.
I wonder if we know what we’re swallowing.
What I see is that when the going gets tough, the tough often get stuck. Those who, like me, keep trying to do better, try harder, and believe more, but just find themselves unable to go very far. Sometimes, they can’t move forward at all.
So, how do we get going when the going gets tough?
We tell ourselves we can. And we can. There’s a lot we can do and it’s often more than we think we can. It’s important to remember there are is so much we can do.
Even so, what we can do and how we can do it, well, there’s a world of difference between two primary means.
We have choices to make. We can choose the way of man or the way of God. We choose our way or His.
When things are hard, our human inclination is to follow the proverbial protocol of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We muster up the strength. We look in the mirror and remind ourselves of all the things we want to hear and we choose to put on courage so we might forge a way through.
Who’s courage is it? Where does it come from? How are we brave in the face of hard circumstances?
Perhaps we do everything it takes to make our own way and it surprises ourselves and others around us. We might carry on in this manner for years, even decades, or a lifetime of weariness.
We’ve become so accustomed to the axes and shovels we carry to forge our own clearings that we often don’t notice the mess we’ve left behind.
We don’t see the way already paved for us. The way through has been made possible because the Son of God went ahead of us.
Eventually, when things get really, really hard, we realize that our strength only goes so far. What we’ve mustered up internally starts to putter out externally. Our ways of courage are found wanting when they lack the fiery renewal made possible by the Holy Spirit.
We forget that we don’t have to do this on our own strength. We can’t. Not for the long haul anyway. Not if we’re desirous of following Jesus way and receiving all He offers.
Have you felt the weight of the tools you’ve carried and collected over the years? Are you tired of fighting to make it on your own?
It’s time to start doing something different. It’s time to start making choices that help cultivate a life well-lived.
Eventually, many of us find ourselves realizing human limitations met by supernatural affections. We may not recognize it when it’s there, but God is always working for our full reconciliation and so we, as ones who belong to the kingdom of heaven, are caught in the throes of eternal longing and fallible human striving.
What will we do when we awaken to this kind of tension, the one between our will and God’s?
Will we realize that we’ve been choosing our way and not His? Will we let our hearts shake and shudder so that in this we find the sweet kind of surrender which changes everything?
What will we choose?
As I’ve looked back at numerous times of struggle in my own life, I’ve noticed how we are given the gift of choosing. We have choices which allow us the opportunity to get up again and again. They help us get going when things are tough because truly, in Christ, we can.
If we want to stop feeling that heavy weight. If we want to see the way already made for us so we can walk in it. If we want to stop living stuck and start living well, we need to start making choices.
The first choice we need to make is that we need to Choose God.
His ways. His plan. His timing. Choose God over your own agenda, over the ways and means of your self and others.
We need to turn our minds and thoughts to God so we can start seeing where he’s taking us and what he’s doing. {Note: if you don’t have a relationship with Christ already and are curious to know more, please email me.}
When we choose God, we choose the one who created us, who gave us life, who redeemed our lives with the cost of His own son’s so we could live free. We choose the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Choose all of Him.
Today, you can start making choices towards living well by choosing God above all else.
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. ~ Joshua 24:15
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. ~ Psalm 119:30
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:25
with love,
Jolene
NOTE: This article is the first in a series of 31 Choices We Can Make to Live Well. If you're weary of trying to get it right and want to experience greater peace, joy, and freedom in Christ, consider cultivating a life well-lived and a soul-well-nourished. You can follow along with all 31 Choices here.
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