Hard Have-To's and Easy Get To's

“There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.” Terence 185 BC – 159 BC

Some of you may be thinking ‘Huh?’ after reading that quote. Let me put it in more modern terms: Something can be very easy, but when you are reluctant to do it – it becomes hard.

Still not making sense? 

Perhaps you make your bed in the morning or tie your shoes on a regular basis. These are fairly simple tasks now, but think back to when you were younger…Do you remember your mom telling you to make your bed? Did you dislike trying to make the bed because it was hard? Maybe you didn’t like making your bed because it wasn’t fun. Either way…making the bed has never been a hard task but when you’re reluctant to make the bed it becomes hard to you. Same with those annoying shoelaces. It is not hard to tie your shoes, but children make it hard by not being willing to learn. (I mean daddy can do it so much quicker and tighter!) I am sure there are so many tasks at your work, your church, and in your life that are not hard, but when you don't want to do them it becomes difficult.

I wonder how many of the opportunities God gives to us on a regular basis that are meant to be easy if we rely on our Lord, but instead we feel like the chores are hard and the challenges are too tough because we don’t allow God to be in total control.

There are many thoughts running around my head right now, and there are so many ideas I’d love to share with the handful of people that read this blog (thank you for taking the time!); but, to keep it short and sweet I want to take a moment to type about one thing: prayer.

How do you pray? Is prayer a habit for you? Is it a ritual? A chore? Something you HAVE to do? Or something you GET to do? Do you forget to pray?

Friend, can I share something with you: I talk to God ALL the time!!! No joke! Through out my whole day! Like a little girl who has these long drawn out stories, and she follows her parents and siblings around the house just talking and talking and telling stories all day long. (Sidenote: The best part about our Heavenly Father is He truly cares about ALL our thoughts, and He loves it when His children pray to Him – even if it’s that little girl that has a million thoughts and super detailed stories!)

Maybe prayer is something you feel like you have to do when you go to bed at night. Or maybe you feel like prayer is something you have to send up when a family member or friend is sick or hurting. Maybe to you praying is what you do when you realize you haven’t prayed in awhile, so you pray to God to forgive you for not praying. I don’t know your heart or your prayers – but God does. God knows your heart. If you pray because you feel like you have to God knows. If you forget to pray but truly mean what you say when you do bow your head – God knows!

Prayer is the most powerful tool we have. Prayer is something we GET to do not something we HAVE to do. Don’t make it hard. It is truly easy. Share your thoughts with God. Commit time out of your day to talk to God. He wants to hear from you.

Oh, and don’t worry about praying too much!

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”

See, we are supposed to be praying to Him constantly!