This is Hard!

Life here can be so hard. Stuck in a messed up world with a heart that knows that we were meant for so much more. I truly don’t know how those who do not carry this hope deep inside get up each and every morning.

Jesus in the book of John was constantly making his disciples aware that this is what life was like. Hard. In fact, John 6:66 says that after the teaching on eating my flesh and drinking my blood, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. I am sure that like me, you see many around you doing the same thing (especially as many of us hit this mid-way point in life). No wonder they call it a mid-life crisis.

Two verses later, Simon Peter speaks the truth – the truth that I feel – “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Just this morning, as I was reading His Word, I was thanking Him for it; it is what gets me through. Yet, the wishful thinking of an easier life often calls out for my attention.

A new friend shared this poem with me this morning from missionary Amy Carmichael:

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod;
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

Today, Lord, fuel that flame of your Holy Spirit inside us. Cause us to reflect often in our day, that You have the words of eternal life!

Lynn