Devotional THought of the Day:

²²  They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith, saying, ‘We must all experience many hardships before we enter the kingdom of God.’ Acts 14:22 (NJB)   

⁹  Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. ¹⁰  Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. ¹¹  Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, ¹²  cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.  Romans 12:9-12 (MSG)

““My enthusiasm is gone,” you wrote me. Yours has to be a work not of enthusiasm, but of love, conscious of duty— which means self-denial.”  (1)

One of the joys of having a brilliant 6 year old son is having to teaching him.  Well sort of! This morning’s lesson was one on dealing with boring things.  The title of the blog is a direct quote from him, about something I asked him to do.  THe response is one I’ve heard from my own lips a time or two during my life. Luckily, with vacation noly a week away, I had some good tools to work with, to explain why doing boring things can be quite good to get done.

Daddy, “Well, going tonight to check out our tent trailer is boring, so I guess I don’t want to do that either”

William – “but….”

Daddy:  “You know – the drive up north to the campground is 6-8 boring hours… and I have no enthusiasm for that…. so we shouldn’t go…”

William – “But…” Then the lesson dawned on him…

Then when I got to the office,. gulp – it dawned on me as well….  ( I really dislike when God ramns “my” lessons back down on me!) I may not be enthusiastic about some of the things I have to endure, some of the things that are tedious and boring and.. well not fun.

The times where I am not worshiping with people, or teaching/learning with them. THe times where we aren’t in awe of God’s grace – but wonder why life has to be so… boring, mundane or trying.
The times of doing the grunt work – either at home or at church.  It is just a fact – there are times in our lives where we will deny our own wants and desires, times where boredom will cause us to slow down, or even be distracted.  Other times where we won’t have any enthusiasm to endure because the road is to rough, the obstacles take to much effort to overcome.

The answer in both places is the same.  When we persevere, our goal cannot be the task alone.  Most of them would fail to be worth our effort.  But if we see the end of the task as a place to rest and be ministered to by God, a chance of peace and a time for healing, then it changes our attitude.  The Kingdom of God is there… waiting… ready for our entrance home. The only way to get there is to endure – and the key to that is to know who has taken us on His journey home… for we live and dwell and persevere and find life’s great victory… in Christ. With Him, the trying times can be endured.

WIth Him, even the boring times can be endured. AMEN

(1)  Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 2309-2310). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.