No Shortcuts

     All personality types have quirks. I hate to admit but my personality type is no different. One aspect of mine is that I focus on the end results more than the details that can just slow up the process. One day I started a process of hanging border in a small bathroom. It wasn't your normal border because I had cut it out of wallpaper and it had a scallop edge. The good thing was it wasn't 15' long so it was much easier to hang. I figured I could get this process done in less than 30 minutes. I only saw one potential flaw; my friend and neighbor offered to help. Now I loved her and she was very talented, but her personality cares about the details. It takes her at least twice as long to do something than I take. I am not saying my way is best; I need detail people in my life to help me remember the important details to a project. However, I believe that I can help detail people remember that it is important to finish in a timely manner. That is why it is important for us all to work together to help each other. That is why God doesn't make us all the same! Anyway, I agreed that my friend could help me by pasting the wallpaper and handing it to me. It was working and we were on a roll. I would get up on a chair (Dwayne: Did you catch the 'buzz' phrase? GET UP . .), she would hand me a piece of wallpaper, I would put it up, she would hand me my rag and brush, I would get down and move the chair, and we would do it all over again. Then we hit the corner! I put up the piece of wallpaper but could not reach the end that went around the corner because there was a shelf in the corner. I had a choice to make and I have to admit my personality quirk kicked in! I could have done it the hard way and taken down the piece of wallpaper, got off my chair, moved the shelf, moved my chair to the corner, got back on the chair and put the wallpaper up! Did I choose this option? Of course not! I decided to take the easy and quick way. All I needed to do was to put my foot on the shelf and lean over to push the end down and around the corner. It should have worked. It could have worked! However, the shelf was not hard wood; it was particle board. It could not take my weight (you can take that any way you want) and the shelf broke into pieces and I went down with it. On my way to the floor the toilet took its shots at my ribs. The plant that was on top of the shelves went down with me and I was laying on the floor, wondering if I had broken my ribs, with dirt everywhere! As I was laying there wanting to cry with dirt all over my face and body, my friend walked into the room to find out what caused the loud sound. She took one look at me and said, "You just couldn't move the shelf, could you?" These are the times in life I want to scream, "retake" but life does not give us retakes!

     Often we want to take shortcuts with our spiritual life. The bad news is, we can't. Our spiritual life is not just waiting until we reach our destination, it is a process of learning about the God we'll spend eternity worshipping. For example, we want to have great, deep faith, but we want to skip walking through the valleys that grow that faith!  When we look for shortcuts we will eventually fall!
     Are you willing to live the journey? Are you ready to quit looking for the shortcuts? God cares about the details in our character and He will do what it takes to help us develop and grow our character. Do you have things you know you need to do but refuse to give up the time? Do you just hope it will happen without any effort on your part? Are you willing to do what God tells you even if it is not easy or convenient? If you answer yes; then your actions will prove it!

. . .we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Romans 5:3-4