Life’s Middles – Do You Like Them?

I don’t like the middles. Can you relate?

I love the endings (specifically, happy ones), and I enjoy the beginnings (so much to look forward to, so much hope) – but, life’s middles are not my favorite place.

To me, the middle is the process – the hard work- the persistence – the faith – the holding on, until we can get past ‘it’ (the middle) – to, the hopefully, sweet end.

One exception to a middle I enjoy, is the middle of an Oreo – but don’t give me double stuffed – there can be too much of a good thing.

Wouldn’t it be great to just skip the middles?

Skip the diet and move straight to the weight loss? I’d like to skip practice and move on to being an expert.

Every week I look at my lovely home and want it to be just freshly cleaned, so I can enjoy it, but I often don’t want to do the work to clean it. I’m just ready for the end.

The last page. Oh, I’ll admit it, sometimes I skip pages in a book to get to the end of the chapter – I’ve even skipped chapters and turned to the end of the book. I can’t wait!

Remember the childhood story of “The Little Red Hen”?

The little red hen lived with a cat, a dog, and a mouse, who didn’t like to do any work, so the little red hen had to do all the work.  She asks for help planting wheat and tending to the plants and preparing for harvest –  “who will help?” –  the other animals answer –

“Not I”.

(excerpt taken from “The Little Red Hen” by Paul Gadone)

Finally, the little red hen goes to make a cake, once again, no-one will help, until it is time to eat the cake. Everyone smells the sweet aroma of the cake cooking and wants to partake of it. Skip the middle.

In my faith walk, I’d like to avoid the middles, too. How about you?

I prefer to get straight to the blessings. The answers to prayers.

I tend to look at end products. If you are like me, you look for results. You seek answers. And, we expect those answers to be happy, positive results.

But, before the end, we live out the middles – on earth – a place that is not heaven; where sorrows pile up, messes are commonplace, and pain is not out of the ordinary.

The middles don’t always make sense, and they are not always happy places.

I think, the middles in life, reveal the insides of us, too.

What we are made of. What we think. Our expectations. Our attitudes. Our approach to: life, to people, to stuff.

They reveal much more than creamy fillings and sweet tasting frostings. They reveal the ingredients in our hearts –

• The real stuff
• The small stuff – that makes up the stuffing of our very selves & soul

“Who dares despise the day of small things.” Zechariah 4:10

This Zechariah verse deals with the somewhat odd topic of –

Small Stuff!

The setting for this passage was a time when the beautiful temple Solomon had constructed had been leveled and there was a movement to rebuild the temple – but most of the people were discouraged.

Starting to rebuild the temple was hard, the job before them was menial, they wanted the completion, the glory, not the work.

I, too, want the job completed, the menial work done. I just want to get there.

Small daily work seems insignificant, not worth the effort. Middles are tough!

Middle fillings in life look like:

• Diligence – what are you willing to work for
• Faithfulness – what will you go the distance for
• Relational roadbumps – how do you navigate over them
• Challenges – places of doubt, discouragement, physical difficulties – how do you meet the challenges
• Expectations – what do you wait expectant & hopeful for
• Treasures (what do you care about & build up) – stuff, love, & gratitude

I think  I need to do a mental check. Get a realignment.

Take a 2^nd look at what my ‘middles’ are saying about me.

Are there any small things you or I are ignoring in our lives?

Is there a small voice inside telling you what you need to do today to live life better – more right, more righteous? A step of faith, as it were – a step towards God?

The enemy wants us to ignore the call – drown out the voice – listen to doubt – feel the task is impossible, or not worth the effort.

Today, let us not despise the small things.

**Lord, we repent for sometimes despising the small stuff, the nitty gritty choices we just don’t want to take seriously. Lord, lead us out into Your ways – that in every small way we may follow You.

**Linking up with: Holley Gerth’s CoffeeformyHeart, Jennifer Dukes Lee TellHisStory, RaRaLink UP, CountingMyBlessings Link Up