“Anything worth doing in this world is incredibly difficult to do.” – Jon Foreman

“Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.” – Isaac Slade

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9 ESB

I often write about how this world is filled with so many things that counter who we really are.  It seems like these obstacles, challenges, and built-in contradictions have been purposefully crafted to ensure our time here is filled with what is necessary for us to grow and learn.

One of those contradictions that proves this world is not our home, that attests to the idea that this journey of ours has a greater purpose and mission, lies in the difficulty found in doing the right thing.  Often, as Isaac Slade suggests, the right thing to do is also the most difficult thing.  It comes with sacrifice, with some suffering, and with a strong aversion to what our mortal minds and emotions desire.

The bowl of ice cream or the dish of vegetables? The pleasurable, immediate purchase on credit or the delayed gratification associated with building up the savings account first?   The quick hook-up or the hard work of developing intimacy within a committed relationship?  The instant, fast high or the longer, more reflective mood required to see things in their proper perspective – facing the pain or obstacle versus the drug-induced escape?  The “get rich quick” scheme or the hard work necessary to become financially stable and secure?

Are there areas of your life right now where you find yourself doing the wrong things because they are easier and more palatable?  Could you identify three areas in your life currently where embracing the difficulty would lead to something good, right, and honorable in the long run?

In the spirit of full disclosure my friend, I have more than three ☹

When I look hard at my own life, I see areas where I have chosen the easy way out.  There are things I so desperately want to see transpire or work out, but those things are so far away from what is good and right – especially when it comes to the health and well-being of the people who are connected to them.  I have made easy, lethargic choices instead of difficult, more beneficial ones.  I have sought out ways to avoid the painful emotions that come with positive change.  Immediate comfort has taken precedence over the discomfort of doing what is right and suitable for my health, my future, and my created purpose.

What can we do to “see through” the lies connected with avoiding what is difficult and right?  How can we mentally default to always making the harder, more valuable choice?  How can we face the pain and suffering associated with doing what is right instead of taking the easy way out?

Changing the Mental Narrative on Pain and Pleasure

How can we train our minds to see the easy way out as painful and full of suffering?  If we can transform our thoughts, changing the way we see it, we can begin to transfer our energy into doing the right, difficult and more painful things versus those wrong things that give us immediate comfort and pleasure.

Why can some of us see pleasure in avoiding the ice cream and working out instead?  How can some of us see the pleasure found in the hard work of commitment and see the quick, intense affair as painful and devastating in the long run?  How can we turn the behaviors of addiction in our minds to see them as they truly are – dreadful, distressing, and full of destruction?

In order to accomplish this, we must change our paradigm, taking those three things in your life I mentioned earlier and switching your viewpoint – associating what was pleasureful with pain and what we perceived as the easy way out as the harder, more hurtful choice that is ultimately filled with suffering.

When you look at your three things, what affirmations can you write today that will begin to change your motivation?  Once written, read them out loud daily.  Turn your mind toward seeing them in this new, more accurate light.  See the pain where you now see pleasure and associate the immediate pleasure with what is harmful and damaging in the long run to you and others.

Seek God’s Help in Doing What is Right and Difficult

“I have strength for all things in the One who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13 BLB

One thing I have personally come to realize in my own life is how incapable in my own power I am of doing what is good and right.  This humble realization, seeing your mortality and humanity for what it truly is, begins the process of looking for God in all you attempt and embrace.

When I take time daily to look for God, I take my eyes and my mind off my limited and skewed ways of thinking – placing my focus on what is right and His needed, required assistance in accomplishing those things.

When I take time out of my daily routines to move closer to God, my thoughts change, my motivations shift, and my will is more resolute.  What seems mortally impossible becomes divinely and supernaturally viable again.

I can tell when I have chosen to go my own way – to do what is more comfortable and undemanding.  I lose my ability and conviction to do the right and difficult thing. 

If this is happening to you, analyze your time spent seeking and looking for God and His active presence in your life.  Just taking steps that move you closer to Him will change how you see things and give you the strength to take on what seems hard and impossible.

What Seems Easy on the Surface Often Comes with Hidden Difficulty

We can eat the tasty junk food that is fast and easy but fail to connect that with our lack of energy or weariness.  We don’t see the intense effort, both physically and mentally, to maintain the secrecy of the affair.  We never correlate the immediate gratification we receive from our addictions with the mental and physical damage they inflict as we indulge in them.

Very often, the perceived “easy things” have a difficulty all their own.  We have simply been deceived – oblivious of their instant, present complications.

Take some time tonight to think deeply about those three things in your life where you think you are taking the easy way out.  With an open mind and with complete honesty, can you see the difficulty, the hardship, and the strain required to maintain them?  Have we tainted our thoughts toward them – only seeing them in a way that skews their real influence and impact on us?

I hope if you are like me, struggling with the difficulty that comes with doing what is right and beneficial, you begin the process tonight of shifting your paradigm – connecting pleasure with what is difficult and appropriate – instead attaching pain to all that feels easy and uncomplicated.   I hope you take some time to write affirmations you can recite, speaking daily reminders to yourself about the deeper truths that are found within your behaviors.

I pray that you start to lean on God when doing what is right seems overwhelmingly difficult – beyond your ability to change.  When you move closer to the Source of All Things, you will find the strength you need to do the hard things in your life you currently avoid.

It is also my prayer that God gives you the grace to see the hidden difficulties in what seems like the easier, more desirable way.  Not only strength, but wisdom, comes with daily seeking Him for all you face my friend 😊

Please pray for me too!  God bless you all 😊