This past weekend, my husband and I took two of our kids to the lake for the weekend. The kids quickly made friends with some of the other kids in the area and I was able to spend most of my weekend relaxing and reading. I had just picked up a new book from one of my favourite Christian authors and it was fantastic. I finished the entire book over the weekend and I was on fire. I could feel God working and moving in my heart, and I was excited for the changes I knew were coming.
And then I came home. To the same messy house I left 4 days earlier. With the same gouchy kids who didn’t want to do chores. And the same TV easily filling up the evening with nothing that was really worth our time.
And then it got worse. I argued with my husband. I couldn’t sleep. I woke up feeling tired, hurt and defeated.
I just wanted to do the right thing. I was hungry for the change. And then I wasn’t. Within a matter of hours, I went from excited to defeated.
Have you ever noticed how often this happens? You read a good book, you hear an amazing sermon, you attend a fantastic conference: and you’re on fire. This is going to change you. This is going to change everything. You’re never going to be the same person again.
And then you are. Or at least it feels like that. Life is very quick to bring us back to reality. Or at least that’s how we see it. Yes, I wanted to change. Yes, I wanted to do this better. But maybe I can’t. Maybe this is just who I am and I need to accept that.
Let’s say you plan a road trip and you’re going to drive from Winnipeg to Vancouver. You’re excited about Vancouver, Vancouver is where you want to be. So you make the decision that you’re going to be in Vancouver and you hit the road. An hour later, you look around at the vast fields that indicate that you are still in Manitoba and you give up. You tried and yet here you are, still in Manitoba. Perhaps you weren’t meant to be in Vancouver. Perhaps you need to just accept that you’re always going to be in Winnipeg and you can’t change that.
That’s silly isn’t it? A road trip takes time, it takes one mile after another, hour after hour of changing locations until you finally reach the destination. Personal change is also a step-by-step process. A day-by-day journey. If you haven’t reached the destination yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t: it just means you’re not done yet! As long as you keep your focus on the destination, you will get there! Focus on who you want to be, on the change you want to see in your life: and you will get there. Step-by-step.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)
Shimmer 