I’ve been challenged from many different avenues lately on how our culture (or at least me) can approach things as if they should be easy. We want the opportunities in life, for dreams to come true, without any of the work that comes with them.

That quite simply, is just not how life works. Even scripture points to this truth. “In this world, you will have trouble…" (John 16:33)

Now there are some dreams we cannot simply will to happen. I’m not talking about that. But I do believe there is hope for those dreams. In the second half of John 16:33, Jesus says, But take heart! I have overcome the world."

What I’m talking about is the type of thinking that lulls us into a state of complacency and expectation. We sit around just waiting for things to happen to us, for good things to come our way. We want to write a book, but figure if a publisher does not drop out of the sky, then I guess it’s not meant to be. We want to pursue a new career, but if a headhunter doesn’t come calling, then never mind.

It brings to mind a scene from a movie I like, A League of Their Own (stop laughing, you know you’ve seen it too). Tom Hanks’ character is talking to one of the girls about baseball being hard.

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard…is what makes it great."

The hard is what makes it great. The struggle. The sweat.

The hard is where we learn what we’re capable of. Where we chase after something and find truth, one way or another. If we work for something, whether we achieve it or not, we will learn something in the process.

So you can sit and wait for that dream to show up on your doorstep. Or, you can begin to chase it down and see why the “hard" makes it even sweeter.