DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Hit the Easy Button
© NaimaLett.com/blog

Wouldn’t life be grand…
if we could hit the EASY button every time things got difficult, just like the Staples’ commercial?

Financial problems? Hit the EASY button.
Relationship woes? Hit the EASY button.
Health issues? EASY button.

Wouldn’t that be ideal?
But on the real, is there an EASY button for life’s adventures?

Yesterday at HOPE, I continued our Don’t Give Up series with the message, “Why Aren’t Things Easier?” In my preparation, I explored the bible, looking for an answer to that specific question:

Why isn’t life easy?

Things are easy in the Garden of Eden in the very first 2 chapters of the bible – Genesis 1 – 2. But by Chapter 3, we are tempted, we sin, and it’s all downhill from there. No more easy.

No more walking through paradise, in perfect and healthy bodies with no varicose veins, naked and unashamed, eating whatever we like, whenever we like, in perfect communion with God and each other. Now we have to work to eat and that’s by sweat and toil.

Genesis 3:17-19 says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken…”

Long story short, the first family falls apart. Brother murders brother. Sin abounds for generations. Things are hard. We need help. Jesus comes. Jesus saves. Jesus ascends. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as our Helper until He returns. In the meanwhile, we are commissioned to make disciples – loving people as God loves them, living life as Christ taught us to live.

Nowhere do the scriptures tell us that life is supposed to be easy. If anything, we see examples of people, even our Messiah, who persevere through hardship, even to death, and still keep the faith. We see people who decide to rejoice when their faith is tested because they learn to endure as they mature. (James 1:2-4). We see people who grow up as they get through each challenge.

What about us?

Are we growing through our difficulties?
Are we maturing as we make it through each circumstance?

Making it in Hollywood, and anywhere else for that matter, is NOT easy. But each job along the way is worth it, right? The friendships and relationships are wonderful, yes?!

Making relationships work is NOT easy. But living life each day with someone you love is fulfilling, right? Relentless love is worth fighting for, period.

Having children, raising children, serving in ministry, starting a business, running someone else’s business, excelling in school, all of these things are NOT easy. But can we imagine life without them? Nothing in life worth doing is going to be easy, so we might as well embrace the adventures and rejoice along the journey.

The next time that we see easy in the bible is Revelation 21:1-4, the second to last chapter of the whole shebang. There is a new heaven and new earth, a recreation of Eden (so to speak), where there is no more death, mourning, crying and pain. Bring on the easy! Be encouraged, Fam. Easy is a’coming!

Until then, we endure. We mature.
We grow up. We enjoy life.

So, go ahead. Give yourself a pat on the back. You may not have an EASY button,
but you’re looking mighty grown and accomplished these days.

Keep your head up,
Naima

Have you had to endure lately? Are you growing?
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