Maybe She's Born with It...

"...that ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness..." Colossians 1:10-11

Photo: nidan pixabay

Good morning, dear friends,

Nothing worth having comes easily, does it?

It came upon me suddenly yesterday, as I was watching my children compete in a day-long Parent/Child ping pong tournament in their club.  (No, I was not one of the parents playing. I leave that honor to my husband who actually enjoys chasing the little orange ball around the room.)  I had not seen my children play in a while, more than just goofing around in our basement, and I was shocked.

See, when I played ping pong as a kid, it was a detachable net slung across the dining room table, where my brother and I would take swipes at the ball, and the ball spent more time on the floor than on the table.  I never even broke a sweat.

My husband and my kids do not play ping pong like this.  They are like the Asiatic guys that you see on TV, standing back four feet from the table, slicing, cutting, and generally whacking the ball like it is their worst enemy.  Even my sweet frilly Juliana is dangerous with a ping pong paddle in her hands.

And, since I had not seen them practice in a long time, I was generally amazed at their progress behind the table, not just in their mad ping pong skills, but the good sportsmanship and sweet spirits they had while playing.

Needless to say, it was an eye opener for me.  My children had acquired a skill through much practice and hard work, that if I were not careful, would appear to my eyes as having happened overnight.

But, as I was quick to realize, anything that I do, that is worth doing, usually does not come naturally, without a lot of hard work behind it.

How true this is in my daily walk with God as well.

I was reading this morning in Colossians, and I came across Paul's prayer for the church that just blew me away.  Tucked in the middle of one of those extremely long sentences in the first chapter were these thoughts:  "...that ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness..." Colossians 1:10-11

I realized that this should be my focus for today:

...that I may "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing"...and that is not a small task.  I must learn more about who God is, and what is pleasing to Him, in my actions, my thoughts, and in my day to day living.  This will not be a half-hazard attempt, something that will come naturally to me.  No, it will be a deliberate effort on my part to clear my life of sin and seek godliness.

...that I may be "fruitful in every good work"... this will also require a lot of effort in my life.  There is so much to occupy my days, that if I am not careful, I will not give diligence to the work that God would like me to accomplish in one day's time.  I cannot as a Christian be lazy and hope to live a life pleasing to God.

...that I may be "increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might..." I must learn more about God to be pleasing to Him.  That should be my goal as I read His Word today:  to read of Him, so that I may be more like Him...

...that I may realize that my strength for living does not come from me, but from "his glorious power."

None of this will come naturally from me.  It will require daily effort on my part, to enjoy the end fruits of "patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."

How much work I still have to do in my own life.

Remember that slogan from years ago from the makeup Maybelline?  "Maybe she's born with it...maybe it's Maybelline."  (I guess nowadays the slogan would be "maybe she's born with it...maybe it's Photoshopped," but I digress.)  The point of that campaign was to show that for those of us who are not born with "it," can acquire "it" by using a certain product.  In my life, I was not born with "it"--all of the blessings that come from enjoying a close walk with my Lord--but I received "it" the moment I handed my life over to the Lord.  Yes, there is hard work to be done to keep my life clean from sin, but it is definitely worth the effort that comes with time.

How thankful I am that God is patient with me, as He builds through me a life that is pleasing to Him.  It is a long, slow, sometimes exhausting and challenging effort, but isn't that the case for anything worth having in life?

May I be willing today to take the time and effort needed to life a live pleasing to the Lord...