DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT
SOME PEOPLE GET FRUSTRATED BECAUSE THEY CAN’T DO EVERYTHING… SO THEY END UP DOING NOTHING.
I would not call myself a perfectionist, at least to the point about being neurotic. I do want everything in my life to be in a neat and orderly fashion. I become very frustrated when I am faced with disorder. Now my sister-in-law is the exact opposite of me. She loves chaos in her life. She calls it a new adventure each and every day. Sometimes when I visit their expanding family, I feel like I have to wade myself through animals, toys, books, VCR tapes, and of course children. Their home is filled with laughter and noise. Lots of noise! I once asked my sister-in law if she ever becomes frustrated with all the mayhem. Her reply is that you must “Roll with the punches in life.”
“Roll with the punches in life.” Are Christians supposed to roll with the punches in their life? Do we ever become frustrated when we continually attempt to reach a goal and fail? How do we react when we fail from an endeavor, do we get back up or just quit?
I went with our youth group to witness to the neighborhood surrounding the church. We baked dozens of cookies, made special treat bags for the children, printed hundreds of flyers about Jesus, and even practiced singing some Christian tunes to serenade the neighbors. We encountered many willing listeners and some promises to visit our church soon. But we also received a lot of doors being shut in our face.
I thought it was a very productive Saturday, but many of the youths were frustrated. Some neighbors even refused the cookie treats. These youths refused to come back on our second stab at witnessing. In fact I never saw them in church anymore.
How many times did Jesus become frustrated with the Jewish people when He was ministering to others? Even Paul addressed the Galatian church as foolish [3:1]. God never meant for us to sit down and quit but to keep on rolling with the punches in life in order to accomplish His work on earth.
Paul has told us in 2 Timothy 4:5 “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
I have one secret when I become frustrated and fail at what I am doing, I start praising the Lord. The louder my praises the less stress I endure from my failures. I was once told that when you start any type of project for the Lord, your adversary would come against you and cause failure. But rejoice because that only means that you are on the road to success! So roll with the punches!
Peace Sue Ramsey