It’s that way in our lives too. Most of us don’t want to be messed with, because when we do, it just gets messy, which means a lot of work. Whether it’s our attitude, our marriage, our weight, our job, our relationships, our health, whatever it may be. We just don’t want to be messed with.

It’s easier sometimes to simply leave things as they are. True. BUT . . .

We then end up settling for situations that aren’t God’s intention, and start complaining because nothing is improving.

Many times we just become too comfortable (or actually — [“a-HEM”] — l-a-z-y) not wanting to work on doing what’s in OUR power to do. The Lord says in Hosea 10:12 to…break up your fallow ground. In other words, you have to stir up some things in order to take your life to the next level. Like someone said, if you don’t stir yourself up, you’re gonna sink to the bottom!

I began to realize this floor renovation experience was a lot like our lives. There are areas needing modification and improvement, but we just don’t want to do all that work – tear up the old and start building something new. What a mess and a hassle!

I’m reminded of my son-in-law. After years of working and just getting by, he decided to go back to school, finish his medical degree and become a Physician’s Assistant (P.A.). It took him 27 months of grueling, messy, hard work with long hours and late nights, but he hunkered down, disciplined himself and did the work. He’s now enjoying helping people in a very valuable way, and enjoying the financial blessing that comes with it.

His wife, our daughter, actually took on a similar challenge, attending an intense 14-month cosmetology institute while juggling two kids and a crazy schedule. But it all paid off and she’s now loving her new career making people more beautiful. (Am I bragging?) 🙂

I’ve heard it said, If you want your life to be different, you will have to be willing to DO something different first. And of course the famous quote from Albert Einstein, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The truth is, you have to change up things in your life if you want different results. But when you start messing with stuff, BEWARE because it can (& will) get messy!

For MONTHS now we’ve been in the process of building a new website, and boy what a mess and a lot of hard work! At times I was SO tempted to just settle for what we had, but we stuck with it, so it’s out with the old and in with the new! It will be so worth ALL the time and energy we’ve poured into development, and is going to be amazing! (Launching this spring!)

Interestingly, the behind-the-scenes work is the hardest.

People often ask what we do when we are home and off the road. They somehow imagine that we just sit around and sing, pray, read and hang out, but that couldn’t be further from the truth!

In reality, when we are traveling and ministering, that’s the easy and fun part, even though it comes with its own set of challenges. But when we are off the road is where we often work the hardest, spending energy on: New projects — Communication — Inventory — Accounting — Preparation for upcoming engagements, and the list goes on. We love what we do, but trust me, there is very little down time.

Ask any professional athlete the same questions about their “off the field” time, and they will say the same thing. The practice, strength training, study of the game, the disciplines, etc., is the hard part. Playing the game is the rewarding fun part of the work.

Jim Rohn said, We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret. If you don’t discipline your self to be all God wants you to be, you will suffer the regret of always knowing you could have done better.

That new floor in our kitchen was hard work and expensive! But in the end it was gorgeous and helped to sell our house within a month after installation. The hard work paid off and we are so glad we did it!