Last week, Kristi and I took our baby to her orientation at Baylor. Yes, we have another Bear in the family. (I'll save the story on that for another day. It's a good one.) At the orientation, we enjoyed many seminars that will help Bekah thrive and help us survive without her. During one the seminars, they had a student panel share with the crown. One of the students, a Premed student, said this:
To succeed you need to know the difference between overwhelming and impossible. You need to see that some things are difficult but not impossible.
I loved this advice. For years, we have been telling all of our kids that "we do hard things." We wanted them to learn early and often that sometimes the best things in life require hard work. Is it always easy? No. Is it sometimes overwhelming? Yes. Is it ever impossible? Rarely. That's why we do hard things academically, relationally, and even spiritually.
This "we do hard things" mindset hasn't always been the most popular topic at our dinner table. Sometimes kids, teenagers, and even mom and dad want to take the easy route. We don't want to put in the work. In fact, if we take it too far, we say, "If it's too much work then I must be doing something wrong." I've see people wreck their lives because they forget that sometimes life is hard and requires hard work.
This "we do hard things" mindset hasn't always been the most popular topic at our dinner table. Sometimes kids, teenagers, and even mom and dad want to take the easy route. We don't want to put in the work. In fact, if we take it too far, we say, "If it's too much work then I must be doing something wrong." I've see people wreck their lives because they forget that sometimes life is hard and requires hard work.
- I've seen couples divorce because marriage was too hard.
- I've seen people walk from jobs because it was just too difficult.
- I've seen people uproot their families and move to a new area because life isn't easy.
- I've seen people struggle with addiction because life is overwhelming.
Face it, we have all been tempted to throw in the towel and take the easy route. It is easy to think that just because the current challenge you are facing is hard and overwhelming that it is also impossible. In those moments, remember the wisdom of a 21 year old student wearing green and gold: To succeed, you need to know the difference between overwhelming and impossible. You need to see that some things are difficult but not impossible.
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