Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4

You know your lazy if . . .

instead of ironing your shirt you just throw it in the dryer.

you hit snooze 5 or more times before you actually wake up.

you hear your baby crying and pretend to be asleep so your spouse has to wake up and deal with the baby.

you mow your leaves instead of bagging them even if it might kill your grass.

Maybe not all of these are being lazy. And I may have been guilty of some of the above. Sometimes we don’t want to work hard. We have moments like this. But have you ever believed in the myth that work doesn’t have to be hard?

The Myth

Work isn’t hard. This is a big misunderstanding. People can hear the quote below and miss point.

If you don’t love what you do, then you shouldn’t do it. Marcus Lemonis

I love what I do. I believe what I do has purpose. It has value. I think what I do brings purpose to my life. What I do helps me grow and develop as a leader and pastor. What I do has an impact on the lives of people. I love working with my coworkers. I love what I do.

But does this mean that what we do shouldn’t be hard? If its too hard, should we quit? If its too hard, do we ask start questioning if we love what we do any more?

Long hours, hard labor, staring at a computer screen all day, and coming home and falling asleep before 9:00pm can be very hard. It makes someone wonder if they should stop doing their job.

The Truth

Anything worth doing is hard.

Its not always hard, but it can be hard at anytime. Its not always hard, but there are moments that are challenging.

Starting a business that you love, starting a church, rebranding your business, opening a new location, planting in the fields, and raising children are all hard work. But anything worth doing is hard. It takes diligent hands to do these things.

President John F. Kennedy in a speech he gave to a stadium full of people at Rice University in 1962 talked about the importance of the USA going to the moon. He called on the pioneering spirit of the US that accomplished so much up until this point. He believed that they would accomplish this goal. Below is an excerpt from that speech.

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.

We choose to go because they are hard. Anything worth doing (like going to the moon) is worth it. No matter how hard, we intend to win!

What is the one thing you choose to do? This is the thing that you love to do. This one thing you love is a challenge. Will you accept it?

There are so many things we could choose to do. What will you choose to do? What are you doing now? What would happen if you believed anything worth doing is hard? You wouldn’t doubt this fact. You would embrace it. You would thrive in this environment. You wouldn’t push through.

Does this mean that you don’t have hard days? Does this mean that you don’t fall asleep the second you get home? Not at all. But you push through those days. You take a day off or a vacation to rejuvenate.

Maybe things are coming easy to you right now. That’s great, but there could come a time when things get hard. This doesn’t mean you need to quit. Ask your self why you are doing what you are doing. And remember anything worth doing is hard.

What do you think? Is anything worth doing hard? What do you do to persevere and not quit?

Thanks for reading!