Challenging Normal

It is easier to settle for what is comfortable than push for what God has for you.
The easy thing and the right thing are not always the same thing. When we settle for a cheap imitation of the dream that God has given us then we are saying we worship an imitation god. When we settle for the little things and the easy things then we are not truly reflecting how BIG our God really is. The easiest road often leads to dead ends and it the hardest to backtrack from. The roads that lead to the dreams that God has for us are often uphill but that is because they lead us to the mountain top. The deeper the valley the higher the mountain top. Never settle for the valley.

Relationships gets messy so you are going to get your hands dirty.
The journey of our lives sometimes takes turns down muddy paths. You have to walk through crud in your own journey and with people you are walking with. You have to be willing to put it in 4-wheel drive sometimes. People do not need friends that only stick around in the easy times but will walk with them through the rocky times as well. Real friendship is gauged not by the mountain tops but by the valleys. I am so grateful that God has given me friends that walk through the valley with me.

There is a thin line between routine and rituals.
This is a line that we cross in church all the time. We set routines in place of how we do things and we make them rituals and believe that they are given by God. From the music we sing to the way we decorate our buildings. We have to guard the way that we view our routines and make sure we do not worship them instead of God. It is really easy to focus of tradition and not leave a legacy. Tradition focuses on how things used to be and legacy focuses on how things are going to be. Tradition emphasizes the past and legacy points us to the future. Tradition is about us and legacy is about others. Routine is good. Rituals are good, as long as they are not the things we worship. When they become the things that we worship, then they become a god in our life and we are guilty of idolatry.