Saturday 16 April 2016

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy or Character?


Five Minute Friday's word prompt today is Easy. 
Write for 5 minutes on the prompt, unedited and share your story with a
community of encouraging writers at Kate Motaung.

By Kath


Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy! So says my six year old when faced with a new challenge that she thinks is easy and that she wants to conquer. She's more of an 'I can't' kid than an 'I can', so it's nice to hear her say that it's easy.
We like easy, don't we? I guess it makes us feel more confident, strong, safe, in control.
Hard is, well, hard. It can make us feel insecure, weak, inadequate, out of control.
But we need hard and we need to do hard until it becomes easy or at least more natural.
Easy doesn't really help us grow. My six year old doesn't like to read. Oh, she likes to be able to read, but she doesn't like the process of learning how to read, of having to face new words, new sounds, unfamiliar word forms, a new story she hasn't seen before, so the 'I can't's come out at each new word or sound or page.
But then I remind her how easy those older pages are now, that weren't so easy, not so long ago.
Hard makes us grow, and we need to do hard.
I wonder how much easier it would be for us if we didn't complain about the hard God gives us? Are we expecting too much easy from God? Loving my child means challenging her to do 'hard' stuff, stuff that's not easy for her, because I don't want her to stay where she is developmentally. I want her to grow and to conquer and to learn and to be confident.
Sometimes, I think we hear too much of how easy God will make things for us. But, God does hard and He challenges us, because He knows we need hard till it becomes easy. And some things never become easy, but doing hard sometimes gets easier, not because it is easy, but because we're stronger for having tried and worked and flexed and practised hard. And we can do hard easier because the Lord who slept through the storm on the boat, is with us in our storm, and not somewhere else.
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.




8 comments:

  1. Visiting from FMF... Yes, that is so true! Endurance and strength come from the testing, and that is also how God's might gets proven.

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    1. Thanks for your feedback, Angela. And God's might becomes so obvious to us in the testing.

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  2. You're right- God never promises that things will be easy for us, and I think the most growth usually comes in the times when things are difficult. Visiting from #57 at FMF.

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    1. Hi Carly. Thanks for your feedback. It's so true that we grow more when things are difficult, if we lean into Him. Am writing a bit more about easy this week, because I think He does promise us easy but not in the way we might want it. I guess His definition of easy is different to ours. :)

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  3. YES! we hear too much of how easy God will make things for us.

    Coming from FMF#79

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    1. Hi Amanda. Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we do hear it too much and it concerns me. Am writing this week about what God says about easy and what He means by it.

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  4. I have a six year old too. She, too, likes to read but doesn't like the process.
    I am reminded that I am not too different from her. I want to depth of soul, but I don't like the process to get there.
    Good reminder.

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  5. Same here, Cheryl. The Lord often uses my children's resistance to show me my own. He's so gracious, though, always providing the way forward when I'm ready to cooperate. :)

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