[effort]

The greatest moments in life, many times, come with a fight and that is what makes them so great. The effort to win your love, for a woman - endure labor and have a child, climb a mountain, lose weight, see distant family & friends. There is effort here. And walking with God, being a sojourner - not a tourist, gaining knowledge, studying His Word, learning something new... it takes EFFORT. Yet we so often shy away from effort... we give up on a love that seems too hard, we succumb to the idea that our bodies will always be 'this way', we lose touch with friends & family, we don't learn new things because it's hard and most of all... we don't put effort into our walks with God. We do start looking more like tourists and not sojourners & pilgrims of this world. Our lives must be marked with effort & hard choices if we want them marked with the impossible, the miraculous and the amazing.