I have been away from my Musings and Hymnological Journey for quite a while. I have a lot of pretty good excuses, and several crummy ones. I had two stressful classes, I was in the hospital, I’m a stay at home dad. All of these seem to be fantastic reasons to slip away for a bit. However, I would be lying to myself and all of you if I claimed that these factors were primarily responsible. More accurately, I missed a week and stressed out over my compulsion to only do things to perfect completion, I needed rest but instead became slothful, I chose to ignore something I knew was important and instead did things that were more fun.

The good excuses are like stepping to the side of the road, taking a breather so that you can keep going with renewed vigor. The latter excuses are like losing your footing and falling off the road. When you fall off the road, you have a few choices. You can get back up and keep going; you could lay there, dejected; you might stay off the road for fear of others noticing your failure; or perhaps you end up walking away from the path, curious what might be away from your obligations.

I think the common thread for me in these situations boils down to my volition. Am I willing to do the right thing instead of the easy thing or the embarrassing thing or the painful thing? Typically, no, unless something is immanently on the line. Quite a poor attitude, and not a part of myself I am proud of.

Our call as believers is to be working obediently. As my Hebrew professor is fond of saying, “God is doing the work, so we need to work hard.”  That work is relative, of course, to our talents, abilities, gifting, setting, etc. but regardless we are to work. If we are faithful, our work will never be fruitless because God is doing the work through us. It is a sobering thought, both in realizing that everything from our jobs to caring for our families, to whatever our leisure activities may be are not only effective through God, but He is involved whether we are doing the right thing or not.

I’m trying to find ways to get back on the path, to get off of my back, stop being distracted, and work. Why, when everything else is so much easier? Because how I respond to these situations, choosing to work, is how we show God our love for Him, and loving God is the first and most important command given to us.

Pax,

Paul Hart Cochran