Life is challenging!  It can be difficult to stay motivated when the challenges seem overwhelming.  The key is in perspective.  As one of the leaders at Harrah Church often says, “We don’t have to eat the elephant in one bite.” There is value in that statement because we often feel as though we have to overcome challenges immediately.  But that is not the way this world operates.  To be sure we are designed to feel that way because God created the world we live in with perfection.  When something is wrong we know it shouldn’t be, so we want to fix it and fix it instantly.  But after the fall everything became difficult.  Even communication between two people let alone communication between a large group of people.  So we must learn how to face the challenges because they are not going away.  A friend recently shared with me that this is the theology of thorns and thistles.  No matter how great things are going for you there will always be thorns and thistles to deal with.  These thorns and thistles can discourage us if we don’t remind ourselves that the world is this way.  It may appear that everything is going easy for someone we look up to but its not so.  Everyone either deals with or denies that they have thorns and thistles.  Don’t let it get you down just deal with it and move on.  It is part of the development of your character.  If you effectively deal with the thorns and thistles in your life for the majority of hours that you are awake today then you will have a successful day.  If you repeat that cycle with days you’ll have a successful month.  If you repeat it with months you’ll have a successful year.  This is how you build a great life!  So go out there and don’t let the thorns and thistles get you down!

Genesis 3:17-19 ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”