Holley Gerth looks at this very issue in her latest book. I usually mention the title here (and I will, further down), but at the top of this post, I'm going to mention the sub-title instead: 40 Days of Encouragement for Your Heart. Does your heart need a little encouraging today? If so, read on for some helpful words from Holley.
When You're Just Not Feeling It
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galations 6:9
She sends me an email.
Or walks up to me at a conference.
Maybe whispers it across the table at lunch.
It starts with something like, "I know I'm called to write or speak or cook or do spreadsheets" - her voice gets lower here - "but what about the days when I'm just not feeling it?"
I nod. Because I know. Oh, how I know.
What I don't know is how our culture has convinced us that any other skill is okay to practise, but if it's spiritual or art or both, then you have to feel it every time.
As I'm writing this, the Olympics are still fresh on our minds. I'm picturing an interviewer asking an athlete, "How often do you practise?" And the reply being, "When I feel like it."
We don't ever hear that from athletes at that level.
As Aristotle said,"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
What do you do when you don't feel it? You do it anyway.
***
There is no such thing as a God-sized dream that doesn't have seasons that are just plain ol' hard, unglamourous work.
(Emphasis added by the blog poster!)
When we persevere through those times, we honour God, because that is when we're dying to ourselves. We're saying, "I will obey even when all my flesh wants to do is sit in the corner and eat a cookie." When you choose to be disciplined in the pursuit of your dream, even when you don't want to, you do a lot to destroy the work of the enemy. And even though it doesn't feel like it, your faith is probably even stronger than when you have all the warm, fuzzy emotions that we like a lot better.
So keep going, friend.
You're doing better than you know.
You're growing more than you realise.
You're making a difference even if you can't see it.
And someday soon, you will.
Extracted from Day 16's reading in Opening the Door to Your God-Sized Dream.
ISBN: 9780800722807
Price: £8.99
Available through your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
For more short and thought provoking reading, Holley's blog is well worth spending a little time browsing, as are her books You're Already Amazing, and You're Made for a God-Sized Dream.
Posts
