Friday; September 27

Do you ever get discouraged because you don’t get the results you expected (or hoped) to get?  As a minister, trainer and teacher I face this discouragement on a regular basis.  The problem is that no matter what I do, there is only so much I can do.  Sure, maybe I could work harder or develop better skills; but at the end of the day, I can only control with I can control – and I have to be okay with that.  Interestingly, I believe that there gets to be a point of diminishing results when it comes to effort.  There needs to be a point in time when we believe like we have done all we can do and unless we come to grips with that reality, we will keep pushing ourselves to the point of discouragement – and that can lead to the temptation of giving up. 

The other day Jeane sent me a saying, “We control the effort, not the outcome.”.  As I tried to get to the source of this thought, I realized a lot of people are credited with it (including Bryant McGill, Ryan Holiday … and now, Jeane Wharton).  Yet, no matter who came up with saying, the truth is clear.  To quote another adage, “You can only do what you can do.”.  Now, this should not give us license to be lazy; but it should remind us that there are some things outside our control and we should find contentment in the role we can play.  Centuries ago, the Apostle Paul seemed to capture this concept when he wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” (I Corinthians 3:6).  As I reflected on this, it provided me with a couple observations:  First, God is working with us when we are dedicated to Him, but secondly, even if we don’t change the world – or even individual lives – our job is to do our job.  There are a lot of factors that come together to influence people and we are just a part of the process. 

Let’s find contentment in doing what we can do.  By doing that, we’ll keep doing it no matter what happens. 

Think About It!

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