It’s Not About “Easy” (01/13/2025)

This morning, as I sat on my porch with my quickly cooling coffee, wrapped in my heaviest coat, with gloves and a scarf, the wind was whistling through the neighborhood. I muttered to the LORD that He certainly wasn’t making it “easy” to say my prayers this morning. And I remembered my father telling me when I was not quite 15 that life’s not about “easy.”

I was not quite 15. I was a freshman in high school. I wanted to be a cheerleader. I had the pep. I had the drive. Trouble was, I didn’t have the training. So, I tried out and learned the cheers. The night of the first practice, even my hair follicles ached. I skipped supper. The thought of moving any muscle brought pain to my mind. My dad dropped in on me hidden away in my room. He asked about practice and try outs, he asked about the other girls trying out for the squad. When I admitted that I didn’t know if I could keep going because it wasn’t “easy,” he told me that the things in life worth doing are never about “easy.” He told me they were always about “good.”

He asked me why I wanted to cheer. I told him I wanted to help the team support the guys who were out there trying to win the game for us. He asked me about that, if supporting others in their efforts was important to me. We talked for some time. He helped me see that supporting others was perhaps in my future. As he was getting up to leave, he said one more time, “It’s not about ‘easy,’ it is always about what’s good.”

As time went on, my dad’s words have cheered me on through many a challenge, especially when it got really tough, really painful. “Come on, girl,” I tell myself. “You know it isn’t about easy.” The LORD heard my talk 60 years ago with my dad. He heard me this morning, too. And the memory of my dad flooded my mind and my porch. And suddenly it didn’t feel so cold anymore.

Our lives as disciples of Christ involve many difficult and challenging choices. Loving the LORD is easy until it isn’t. Every disciple knows how easy the LORD is to love but also how difficult it can be to live that love out in challenging situations and sometimes unfriendly environments. But we also know that it’s not about “easy.” It has always been about the “good.” And we know in our minds, our hearts, our very souls that nothing is better than a life in Christ.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.