Giving A Full Effort

I was asked a question that really forced me to search deep down inside of my heart and be true with my feelings. "Am I happy?" I gave it some serious thought. My response was "In general yes, but sometimes I do think there's a lot of improvement that needs to be done." My friend told that it's a dangerous mentality to have. Dangerous...and I agree with him.

Sometimes, I get so caught up in thinking about what needs to be done, what has to improve that I get down on myself when the results aren't there or when I lack the discipline to do what needs to be done. Sometimes it's almost to the point where I tend to forget what it is I am happy about. There's a fine line between critiquing and self-reflection and being overly self-critical.

I've been told countless ways the exact same message: "God doesn't care where you are, he just cares that you are trying.", "It's not about the final destination, it's about the journey.", "What are you doing today that will last for eternity." and so on. To me, what it means is that life here is all one big tryout where the only thing that your marked on is if you give a full-hearted effort. It's when I start asking myself, "If God only cares about the effort I give, why do I care so much only about the final outcome?" Perhaps its because I want the results to happen now. Reap the benefits without putting the work in. Or maybe, it's actually taking the easy way out to think about what needs to be done more and spend less time doing it. God blesses me with the option to make my own choice and I realize I'm choosing not to put the effort in. Doing so, may be forcing me to miss out on the amazing opportunities out there, I just don't know it.

It all comes back to this year's CCF theme, discipline. If I have the discipline to make the effort, it frees up time for other things that may come up so I can enjoy life in both present and future. There's a quote from the bible I found that helps remind myself one of the many benefits of self and spiritual discipline.

"He who heeds discipline shows the way to life..."

Proverbs 10:17

There is only so much time we have to make the most of life. Personally, I tend to take it for granted. I shouldn't worry so much about what hasn't happened yet as just concentrate on striking that fine balance between everything. Try to let God do his work through me. After this realization, amid fact that there's so much stuff going on in my life, everything seems a bit clearer now. Everything is still the same, just the mindset is different. A bit of peace of mind, if you will.