Pain in the New

Even if we know we’re going in the right direction, we can still feel the pain of progress.

Good morning, and happy new year!

Have you ever bought new shoes that really weren’t broken in?

So, I just bought a new pair of shoes recently, and, well, there’s now a spot on my right ankle that hurts with every step I make. I bought new shoes because the old ones were getting uncomfortable, but now I’m experiencing even more pain.

It seems a little backward, doesn’t it? And yet, that’s how life is sometimes.

We become dissatisfied with the old, so we decide that we want something new and different, and we give it a fair shot; we go ahead and buy the new shoes, start down a new career path, go back to school, or decide to branch off and do our own thing.

At first, the idea of the shiny new thing right in front of us is all sorts of wonderful, but the moment we start actually walking in our new shoes, start our new careers, or go back to school, we begin to feel this weird pain… but wait — if it’s new, and you know it’s better than the old, why does it hurt?

Sometimes, because the initial pain is high, we can get discouraged and desire to go back to the old, forgetting why we left it behind in the first place. Even the Israelites had the same mindset, and they left slavery behind!

This morning, if you’ve been feeling the pain of whatever new thing it is you started, I want to encourage you to remember why you started it in the first place.

Remember why you bought your new shoes. Remember why you left your old job. Remember why you started school again.

And, once you remember, make the decision to keep going in the face of the pain.

God bless you, have a great day!

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