Coming out stronger

Why do medicines have to be bitter to cure ailments? Must pangs of childbirth always precede delivery? Max Lucado suggests an answer:

“Light always hurts before it helps.”

Quit gulping temporary pain-killers for an ailment that requires surgery. Don’t paper over the cracks, own up to the truth. Plastering a burst pipe only postpones judgment day.

Delayed gratification in money, sex, food, some luxury or position is a painful endurance test, producing in you a robust harvest of discipline and character, which your mind and body require to generate the successful lifestyle God destined for you. When you deprive yourself of any pleasurable craving, you exhibit delayed gratification.

No big thing comes close to cheap, a price tag sticks to every prize. Each time you overcome a bad habit, you cross the threshold of self-imposed limitation. Are your habits pushing you forward or otherwise?

Uproot the weeds to save the life of your seed. The weeds are sapping your strengths. It takes a lifetime to build the reputation of a good character but a slight error of judgment to crumble it in a day. History and the Tiger Woods’ scandal have proven this. Endure the pain and get the gain.

Photo: Microsoft Office images