Why are you back here?

Today I woke up to SNOW!  Lots of it.  My mom came over to get me so I could help her do some errands.  She drove up my driveway to get me and then when I jumped in, we found out we were stuck and having trouble getting out.  A neighbor saw our trouble and came over to help!  He finally helped us get out by clearing away some snow and ice for the van to get a little traction and he said "Just go and don't stop! GO GO GO!"  My mom said a few times "I got in here just fine!  I don't know why I'm having all this trouble getting out!"  While alone with nature, later while shoveling a path out of my driveway so I didn't face the same trouble later when I head to my piano lesson,  I thought about what my mom had said.  "I got in here just fine, why is it so much trouble to get back out?"

With the lesson a friend of mine presented in a church service this Sunday still fresh on my mind, these words immediately went to that.  She talked about the story where Jesus had called his Apostles from being fishermen to go out into the world and teach about God.  He trained them and lived among them for 3 years before he was crucified and the Apostles were left alone.  When they were unsure of what to do, they went back to their lives as fishermen.  At this time, Jesus again met them at the water's edge and questioned why they were back here, didn't they realize their work was a lifelong work and nowhere near done?  They had went back to what they knew instead of forging the way Jesus had shown them.  It's so easy to head into areas of trouble or to slide back into what's comfortable.  We won't even sometimes recognize that we are  in or heading toward areas of trouble until we realize where we have gotten to and want to get out!  Then we feel stuck and we may even think "It's so much easier to just give up and stay here where I am, after all, I'm not doing anything THAT bad..."  It could even be that you are walking a path that is effort to not stray from the path and it feels like it would be so much easier to just go back to where you were when you started.

The important thing to remember though, is that anything worth anything is WORTH the effort and struggle Everyone has a purpose, something to accomplish.  The way was never promised to be easy but there is the promise of a God who will help you to make it through.

As another friend said in the church service "Do your best and let God do the rest."  When you are finding your way back closer to God just think in your head "Just go and don't stop! GO GO GO!"