Finding Joy in the Grind

It comes in different stages of life.  Sometimes it is doing something we love.  Other times it's doing something that we don't necessarily love, but it is a thing that has to be done.  We call this "the grind."  Generally, we use the phrase when describing the middle of the work week.  It has the connotation that whatever we are doing has begun to feel repetitive.

For me, the grind has been this summer, working two jobs that aren't necessarily in my career path.  But it has also been doing something I love in basketball.  For a sport that came naturally for me, and one that I had devoted so much practice toward, it was an uphill battle when my senior year rolled around and I had to fight to get just a few minutes on the court.  I experienced the grind last year during my first year of college, when I took a year long course in music.  This, unlike basketball, did not come naturally to me, and that felt like I tried to run a marathon without so much as getting out and walking in preparation.

So, all that to say, I understand those seasons where there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  I've questioned God's plan plenty of times in those moments.  I have often had to wrestle with the petty tendency to ask: "What's the point?"

Since it seems that God is trying to make a point of it, I've had to wrestle with myself to find the "joy in the grind" if you will.  I know that as a Christian, I am supposed to live joyfully before the Lord. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." (Philippians 4:4 ESV).  But what should that look like?  An active joy is different than being happy-clappy all of the time.  If I were happy-clappy all of the time, my co-workers, roommates, and classmates would soon be driven up the walls.  There is a difference.  But what is that supposed to look like?

The key for me is "active joy".  "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (Romans 12:12).  Thank you, Paul.  I realized that joy is a constant, growing state of being.  It is a maturing faith.  And what produces maturity?  Trials.  More specifically: persevering through those trials.

The other answer that I stumbled on to, is the fact that there is no purposeless moment in my life.  I always knew the Bible verse that says that God has a plan and a purpose for us, but it wasn't until recently that I have actually begun to think about those words.  If there is truly nothing that happens outside the sovereignty of God, then everything that is was meant to be.  And that is more comforting than I can really express (which is actually a back-handed way of expressing that sentiment.)

Obviously, this is all a work in progress.  I will still grumble and complain and whine about the part of the story that God has given me.  But next time I'm tempted to grumble, my hope is that I will remember that this has been given to me for a reason, and even if I can't see the forest through the trees, I should remember that God meant it for a reason.

So, here is to finding and taking the joy in the grind.