Just keep swimming...

Galatians 6:9 -- Let us not grow weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Sometimes life seems to me to be a very repetitive thing. I go to sleep, wake up, get tired, go to sleep, wake up, get tired... I clean my house, it gets messy, I clean my house, it gets messy... I brush my teeth, I eat, I do it again... the WORST, though, is laundry. I put on clothes and wear them for, what? 15 hours? At most 18? Or with jeans, I may wear them a few days in a row. Still. My clothes pretty much always spend more time dirty and on my floor than they do being worn. It's so annoying! I don't know why, but it bothers me that nothing I do seems to stay done. I make repairs on my house and something else breaks. I guess I kind of feel like my efforts are futile. Like nothing I do has any permanent results.

The funny thing is that I keep doing the same things even though they frustrate me. I mean, just because I'm annoyed that I have to keep going to sleep or cleaning the house or brushing my teeth doesn't mean that I stop doing all of those things! We so often take it for granted that if something is irritating us, we can just make it go away somehow. Ugh! That music is too loud, so I'll just turn it down. That person bugs me, so I'll just avoid him/her. My pastor said something I didn't like, so I'll go to another church. WHAT?! No way! We keep doing things like brushing our teeth even if they're annoying because we know they're good for us. Well, the Bible, the Holy Word of God, tells us that it's good for us to keep on doing good and to keep doing good with energy and enthusiasm. It may be difficult to keep loving that person and forgiving him/her over and over and over and over... but that's what we're supposed to do. Actually, it may be just as difficult to forgive ourselves over and over and over! But God tells us to keep up the good work and to trust that he will come through for us. Don't get fed up with the good works in your life. If you just walk away, the Bible hints that you might not get any benefit even from the effort you did put in. You'll reap IF you don't give up. So keep going! Like any decent farmer, God knows exactly how long his seeds need to grow underground before they can harvested.