My knees really hurt.
My back is killing me.
My legs feel like I just ran a marathon (I guess, I’ve never actually run a marathon, nor do I have that desire).
My whole body is aching.
Why do I feel this way? (Thanks for asking!) Because I spent most of Monday and part of Tuesday helping Linn Rice and Curtis Kinsey put a new floor in the living room of our house. Then spent a few hours on Tuesday night painting baseboards.
Now I am pretty well sore from head to toe. It hurts to walk; it hurts to stand still. Sitting is OK, provided I don’t have to move or stand up quickly.
As I contemplated staying in bed this morning, a thought occurred to me. There is a song that we sing from time to time called “Heaven Will Surely be Worth it All.”
I was thinking about how much I hurt...but now we have a new floor in our living room. The 26 year old carpet with its stains and blemishes (all 300 pounds of it) can be forgotten as we enjoy the new, luxury vinyl plank flooring.
As I looked at it from this perspective, suddenly the soreness and stiffness seemed to fade (the mind is a very powerful tool). Instead of focusing on the pain, I was focusing on the pleasurable possibilities. It made the pain worthwhile.
This gave me a new appreciation for what James has to say in James 1:2-4 about considering it “all joy when we face trials of many kinds.”
How can we count trials, troubles, and suffering as joy? When we focus on what is waiting for us. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do “far more abundantly than all we ask or think.”
When we face soreness and/or stiffness (either physical or spiritual) what we need to remember is that “Heaven Will Surely be Worth it All.” Just a nanosecond in heaven will make all of the pain and suffering worthwhile.