Quit making excuses…

When I was young and full of ambition, I remember my mother telling me that when I was older, I would not want to do all the things that I was doing then. I disagreed, thinking how could I ever stop wanting to ride horses, paint, make things, and be creative. It was part of who I am.

Well, we were both right. I still want to do all those things, but the energy level is not the same. Whether this is caused by “too many birthdays” as my father used to say, or is related to my weaker heart, I don’t know. I just know that my ambition stays with me longer than my energy. Yet God says…

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9–10)

Paul was not a youth when he wrote these words. He’d he had enough experience with God to know that when God asks His people to do something, He also supplies the energy. In his own life he experienced something that zapped him. He asked God three times to fix his problem. God did not.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

Paul knew that the Spirit of God is not limited by our shortcomings. He also wrote, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

This is not a New Testament thing. The prophet Isaiah knew about weakness and about the power of God. His task was huge and he must have been exhausted at times. Yet he wrote…

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29–31)

This does not mean ignoring the need for rest. I must also pace myself as I do my chores. However, these promises are not about my creative ambitions. They are for the things that God gives me to do. No matter what that might be, He will also give me whatever I need to obey Him.