An Early Christmas

It’s a new day. It’s a brand new fight. Today we fight again. We have our minds engaged. We must fight. We fight not merely “against.” We are fighting “against” to get “through” to what we are fighting “for.” We are fighting “for” something or somebody. We are not fighting and struggling just to be fighting and struggling. We fighting for an end that we have in mind.

Remember the end. Remember why you started. Remember your dreams, visions and goals. You’re fighting because of a hope not yet realized. Don’t get lost and bogged down in the process. Don’t get distracted because of the drama. Don’t lose focus and passion because of them or that. Don’t lose the end, the outcome because of the means or the path upon which you trod.

Much to all of life is about discouraging you enough or distracting you enough to keep you from reaching or enjoying end, outcome and purpose. Refocus. Silence the barking dogs, the honking horns and grape vine gazette and do you. You don’t need a committee to approve and to like your clothes, your shoes or your hair. If your job is your life, then you need to get another life. Keep your job, but get a life. When people show you how they are, believe them. Neither your value nor your happiness should be found outside of yourself. You have the right to veto any foolishness or drama that comes your way. You don’t attend petty, back alley performances.

When you encounter the negative today. As you come face to face with your nemesis today. Remember that they are as much a part of the plan for your life as anyone. Your plan includes the good and the bad. Your life plan includes sunshine and rain. Your life’s plan includes everything and everyone that comes your way. However, you must decide what’s to be kept and what’s to be thrown away. You must decide how much time and energy must be invested. View it all as a part of the process, but never as the end, the outcome or the goal.

I know you don’t want to go to church right now, but allow me to take you there anyhow. God is not always going to make life easy for you. I’m typing this slowly this time so that you can read it slowly. God is not always going to make life easy for you. Sometimes He’s going to make you strong enough to handle whatever is put before you and on you. Some mountains are to be moved. Other mountains are to be climbed. Another mountain must be tunneled through. Neither way is easy. What must be done today is necessary and very possible.

God has given you the gift of today. This is not just another day of work. Today is a gift. Look past and beyond the job. Look beyond the foolishness. Aim at something greater than what you are doing to earn a check to pay a bill. Fix your eyes on what’s on the other side of work. And if that doesn’t make you smile, then look beyond that hour to the next. Aim for something that puts a smile on your face and that makes what you go through worth every minute. Today is a gift to you. If you are not smiling, maybe it’s because you have mistaken the ribbon, wrapping paper and stuffing on the inside for the gift itself.

Remember, someone once said, “So if there is a Goliath before you, then there is a David within you."