Challenges and Chocolate

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I am a runner. Not the “tie up your shoes and meet me on the track” kind of runner, but more like a “this is too hard, I give up” kind of runner. I am skilled in the art of avoidance and evasive action, and unlike my good friend Joline, I have never met a challenge I did not want to avoid.
Yep, that’s me, eyeing challenges with a whine and a frown. I like things easy and there’s no such thing as an easy challenge. My husband says it’s because I never played sports as a kid. I say it’s because once you’ve tasted easy, you grow accustomed to the flavor.
And, oh the flavor. It’s like chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone on a hot summer day.   Too bad one cannot survive on chocolate ice cream. Much like having everything easy, a steady diet of chocolate ice cream will destroy you.
So, I’m learning to eat my vegetables—to hold my breath, open wide and gulp down challenges in all their yuckiness. That’s what grown-ups do, right? Part of being an adult means facing challenges and not being too afraid or too lazy to attack them head-on.  It’s exactly what we tell our kids, “you’ve got to eat your vegetables if you want to be strong.”
Such is the nature of challenges—each time we tackle one, it’s an opportunity to grow. So, let’s enjoy the chocolaty goodness of easy, while we prepare and expect those veggie-like challenges to come and “whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything” (James 1:2-4 NLT). That, my friends just might be sweeter than chocolate. Let’s enjoy it together.

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