Ugh, Again??

 Devotion for the Week...

For years now I've been doing our menu planning and grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons. I keep a fairly long list of all the meals we like so I can quickly fill in the week, but lately I find that every time I look at the list I don't want anything that's written on it. Not that I don't like the meals anymore, just that I'm bored of them all. Even my favourites, like spaghetti, don't interest me. I used to make homemade pizza every week, because it's one of Paul's favourites and everyone liked it so that was one easy day to fill in. But then Zach decided he was tired of it, to the point where he won't eat it at all anymore - even though he'll happily eat any other pizza!

The funny thing is, once the menu is made up, I'm fine to actually make those meals and eat them during the week. It's only on Saturdays that I'm sitting there thinking, "Ugh, I don't want any of it again this week." 

Writing to the Galatians, Paul said, "So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up" (Galatians 6:9). That about sums up how I feel about menu planning...I'm tired of all the options, but when I don't give up on the task I reap the benefit of not needing to think about what is for supper every single day. Of course, Paul wasn't actually talking about me planning my meals for the week.

The verse has always made me think of people who have been serving God for a long time, doing the best they can to serve others and maybe not seeing much in the way of results. They're discouraged, but Paul is telling them not to give up. That living to please God will always bring good results if we don't give up when the results take longer than we might like.

Is there anything you're doing that is good, but you're just tired of it? Maybe you've been doing it for a while and don't see that it makes any difference so now it just makes you feel like 'ugh, again??'

Don't give up! We want our results to come right away, but Paul said that the harvest of blessing would come 'at the right time'. Unfortunately, we can't know when that time will be or why sometimes there is so much pain in the waiting. Nor can we know why it's faster to come for some people than it is for others. Only God understands His timing. Even when we don't understand, though, we can still trust Him.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." That means even the waiting times, the painful times and the ugh, again? times can be used for good. Not that they themselves are good, necessarily, but that God will use them to create good.

So whatever it is that makes you feel tired and like you want to quit, don't give up! Your harvest of blessings will come, in God's time, if you don't give up.