Worth It All

For the past few months my usual routine for meal planning and preparation has included a grocery store run on Sundays after we return home from Church and little man is down for his nap. While I go on this weekly run to the store my girls and hubby usually fulfill scripture by reclining and resting on the Sabbath Day. No matter what mood I’m in after returning home from Church, it seems that right before I grab my purse and grocery list, I always seem to be in a stinky mood about having to go to the store.

As I gather my things and head to my car my mind fills with feelings of dread and despair as I think about walking the aisles trying to locate the items on my list, the possibility that I’ll have to wait in long lines, and then the final task of unloading my truck and putting the food away. What dread awaits me each Sunday. What’s interesting though is this sullen attitude has a way of turning from sour to sweet once I make it to the store and start checking things off my list. By the time I get home and put that last item away in my pantry I am filled with joy, fulfillment, and completeness.

Grocery shopping isn’t the only task that I find myself in this interesting, emotional, transition from gloom to gladness. When my alarm goes off at 545 a.m. each weekday morning to workout I enter this same cycle of emotions. I go from rejection of what I need to do, reflecting on what I’m about to do to my body, to acceptance and action. The feelings that I experience once I’ve completed a workout are beyond words. Relief. Joy. Victory.

There are some tasks in life that we can’t rely on our feelings to propel us to complete them. We won’t always feel like laying out a healthy meal plan for our families and running to get the groceries, especially when the recipe calls for a weird ingredient that you have to track down in some weird aisle of the grocery store. Your body may not enjoy you shaking it out of restful sleep in the morning to exercise. In both of these cases though, you NEED to do them. Your family needs to eat and your body needs exercise. Therefore, you have to execute these tasks.

While your body needs food and fitness, so does your spirit, your mind, and your heart. You need the Word of God as your sustenance to grow in wisdom and in truth. I don’t always feel like sitting down with the Word of God and wrestling over its truth, but when I do there is a joy that floods my mind and spirit as I’m filled with God’s truth. Making time to spend with your Heavenly Father, getting to know Him and His Word takes discipline. You won’t always feel like doing it. Don’t let your feelings rule you. Let the Holy Spirit within in, propel you to open His Word. His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. God’s Word will accomplish a good work in us if we discipline ourselves to study and show ourselves approved. As we study we’ll find within ourselves a confidence in who we are in Christ and who God is.

The next time that you feel a funk creeping over you when it comes to something that you know you need to do, focus on the end result. Your cupboards full of everything you need to prepare meals for your family for the week, a healthy and stronger body, and God’s truth ruling your heart and mind which will propel you to a life of peace. Results that are definitely worth it.