Your Hard Work Toward Purpose is Worth the Weight
It was Saturday and I had my music going while I was cleaning my kitchen. You all know that’s officially how you clean, with the music blaring. Anyhoo, I’d washed the dishes, wiped off the stove, swept, and mopped. I turned off the music and the light and walked out of the kitchen when I decided to go back. You see, I have a glass top stove and after cooking on it so many times, it gets a build-up. Wiping the stove off with a soapy towel doesn’t fix it, you have to use a special cleaner and scrub it off.
Well, it typically takes me weeks to decide to do this because it takes me the longest. I pile the cleaner on, let it sit, then scrub it off. The issue is that I literally have to use “elbow grease” to get the stove to be clear of any burn residue and it irritates me. As I said, I usually opt to just wipe it off really well and ignore the brown scorch marks that stare back at me.
Why? My reason is simple – I just don’t feel like it. It takes too much extra effort and sometimes, it doesn’t get spotless the first time and I have to reapply and scrub again. It’s a little discouraging to scrub and scrub only to have it seem as if it’ll never come clean.
When I actually take the time and determine that I am going to get it clean, my hard work pays off. I’m typically a little extra tired and my arm is a little sore, but it’s worth it.
So, What’s the Play Call?
My thought today is simple, put in the work. Yes, it will take more time and effort and you will get tired, but if God called you to it, He will most definitely see you through until the end.
Giving up is an option, but you won’t see your hard work pay off. The work God has called you to will take more, it’s going to take “elbow grease”. I know it seems like the residue of your last loss or disappointment won’t wipe clean, but try again!
Here are a few things to keep in mind when trying to get to a spotless finish:
- Be patient with yourself. This process will, at times, feel tedious and we are often harder on ourselves when things do not go as smoothly as we plan. “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:4
- Rely on God for strength. Walking in your purpose is a lot like cleaning my stove, in that it takes additional energy that you may or may not have. Let God replenish you. “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”
- Don’t quit. If you would just see this thing through to its end, the results will be worth it. I mean, they have to be, this is God’s plan, not yours. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9
- All you need to do is begin. Know that if God placed it within you to start, He will finish it. “Being confident in this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
Whatever you do, don’t walk away from that stove before cleaning it completely. The purpose you have over your life is to be seen through until the end.
