Do You Want an Easy Life?

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“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Generally speaking I have not wished for this. I have always wanted an easy road to follow. One that I thought would mean happiness and success. But the truth is no one should want this kind of life. An easy life in reality equals a meaningless one because it never required effort. No sweat, no tears, no anguish, no fear, no pitfalls, no drama, no progress and no heart.

While these things may not be desirable per say, they are essential parts. Whatever we want to do in life will require some part of us— whether it be mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually that we may not get back. Therefore, might as well take this opportunity and learn from it. Throw yourself in 100% and take pains with whatever it is. Think of how much greater the reward will feel once the goal is accomplished.

We all have to realize that life is a process. Many times our journey has several different parts. We will come upon the first step, then the second one that takes twice as long, and the detour, then the third step that gets flipped upside down and we finally reach the end. This is how our lives go and many times we get frustrated that they aren’t perfect.

But no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to attain a perfect life. We may look around and think that others have wonderful, easy lives. Maybe they chose the easy road and their life appears great, but inside they will be missing something. Something that they cannot find. That would be Jesus.

Life with Him is worth so much more than just a life. Life with Jesus means to actually LIVE life. It may be a difficult life, but with Christ life has meaning, it has purpose and hope in the future.

Instead of praying that all these struggles and pains go away we need to pray for STRENGTH to get through the hard days and difficult times of our life. Without these trials, life would get boring. We wouldn’t see God’s hand work and we wouldn’t have stories to tell or memories to share. 

We need to bring those difficult moments into a new perspective. Think of them as opportunities to learn and grow. Opportunities to strengthen our faith.

Embrace life’s struggles.

There is always room for improvement. Ultimately the storms and bumps in the road make us stronger, wiser and more appreciative of the joyful, satisfying moments we experience. Once we learn to embrace the struggles they will become easier, because we will understand that they do have a purpose. Nothing in life happens by mistake.

Christ is the only rock to lean on

I hope whatever trials are being thrown your way today you will be able to see the bigger picture that life is worth so much more than the struggles of today. I pray that you all will have hope knowing that God will forever have you in His hand.

Blessings,

~Gracie