What's your least favorite day of the week? I can go ahead and guarantee that a majority of you said "Monday." Monday's are rough, guys. It's a not so subtle reminder that the weekend is over and it's time to go back to the real world. Time for work, time for school, or time to force yourself to go back to the gym. Life would be so easy if it could just always be the weekend.
Or maybe, your life is a little more complicated than just the "Monday Morning Blues." Maybe you're wondering why you just can't lose that weight? Why those girls just won't be nice to your daughter? Why are you crying on the bathroom floor? Why can't she/he love you as much as you love them?
Why can't life just be easy for once?
How does it make you feel to know that Jesus wondered the same things? Jesus knew as he washed Judas's feet, that His love for Judas would soon be traded in for cold, meaningless coins. The night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Jesus was more hurt than what we could even begin to fathom feeling in a lifetime. He knows what it is like to feel alone. Jesus Christ knows how it feels when a friend betrays you. Jesus Christ knows all about that pain in your chest when you feel unloved.
"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" Mark 13:14
I would like to say "just the other day I felt sorrow to the point of death." However, I would be lying. The truth is I feel that every day. As a human being, We all feel like this every day. The sad truth is that pain, sorrow, and hurt will always be a part of our lives here on Earth. Every day.
Our problem is not concerning the quantity of the pain that we receive, but our expectations of the quality of it.
What I mean by this is simple. We aren't broken by just one silly break up or one failed test. Life hurts us when we expect to catch a break after one bad thing but are instead greeted by another tragedy. I cried over a boy, two in fact. I knew that one heartbreak would stink, but not that God would let me go through another one only a month later. My friend didn't get the job she was hoping for, but she didn't expect to total her car within the next three days.
Life really grabs a hold of our hearts when we expect that we have suffered enough so surely there isn't more to come.I found myself crying one night asking "Why is this so complicated? Can I not catch a break? When will the hurting stop? Why can't Life JUST BE EASIER?"
But It Shouldn't Be Easy.
The night that Jesus knew he would be taken into custody and persecuted He prayed to Our Lord. Jesus knew everything that was about to unravel. He knew the pain he was about to endure both physically and emotionally. The hardest thing for me to grasp is that he could have taken the easy way out. He could have fled while He was alone with God. He could have just told God that he wasn't the man for the job. Instead, he spoke these courageous words:
"Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?” (Mark 14:35-36 MSG)
Pay close attention to those last eight words. Not what I want-- what do you want? Jesus chose to follow down the pathway God was already starting although He knew it would be a hard one. I would love to have that kind of Faith in Our Father when life knocks me down. I pray that we can all remember to say those eight little words when things do not make sense, when we are unsure what the next step is, or if this Life becomes too much to bare. Do what you want God, not what I want. I trust in You.
Jesus Christ warned us a long time ago that we would have troubles in this Life. (John 16:33) Life isn't suppose to be easy. It's supposed to be hard, but God will never give us more than HE can handle. So draw near to Him.
So, the next time you feel like you can't catch a break or maybe you're just tired of that 8:00 a.m. class, remember this: We were not meant to live mediocre lives. We were meant to be challenged, we were meant to be close to God, and challenges in life were meant for doing so.
So chin up buttercup, you have a not-so mediocre life waiting to be lived.
Remember, it shouldn't be easy.
