Struggle

I need to get ready for work, so this is going to be short and from someone else. I can't can't decide which one I want to share. I'll flip the computer to see which one comes out on top.

As God's fellow workers we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. (2 Corinthians 6)  

How can we move from fragmentation to unity, from many things to the one thing necessary, from our divided lives to undivided lives in the Spirit? A hard struggle is required. (Nouwen)

This just about knocked me off my chair, mainly cuz I'm struggling right now. The strange thing, when I think about it is, aren't we always struggling? I struggle with time, past, present and future. I struggle with people, plans that I have, the garden, loosing weight, my pray life, and Gracie chewing her feet. You name it and I make it a struggle. 

In order to make the move from fragmentation to unity, that takes work and is a struggle. We pray to be done with it someday, to look up from our grind stone and be able to say, "I have arrived!" It never really happens though. It changes, grows and is left behind. But never really stops. When we see that it doesn't stop, that's when we grab hold of the grace. Grace is hanging out there, just waiting on us to see it and do something with it. It's not something that God is going to dump on us, He offers, it's our job to receive.

So as I struggle with this place that God has me, I pray to remember his grace and to receive it. To hold it close to my heart and breath deep. I want an undivided life in the Spirit. I know ahead of time that it's not going to be easy. But when I struggle, I grow. Just like the cucumber plants that struggle to grow up the fence. It's either work to get up on the fence, or lay in the dirt and rot.