Month: January 2024

I’ve got big plans.  In my mind, I can accomplish so much.  But I also have big excuses.  When it comes to exercise, I want to run every day.  The excuse is I’m tired or it’s too hot/cold outside or I have to be at work early or I can sleep for another hour instead of getting out of the comfy bed and running.  These excuses are legitimate, at least in my mind.  And, this is just the beginning.  I have a plethora of them, especially when it is 445 am.  I am super creative then.  Actually, I have more excuses than a mechanic has tools.  I’m equipped for any occasion.  The problem is excuses don’t really get me anywhere.  They actually just leave us stagnant and stuck.  We don’t get to where we need to be when we ride the excuse train.  

It isn’t just exercise for many of us (me included).  We have excuses for our spiritual lives, our work lives, our home, our dishes, those clean clothes that will not jump out of the clothes basket into the drawers…and whatever else we find more excuses not to do.  We don’t start out like this.  We often have good intentions.  We get tired, and if you are like me, we get creative…creative with the excuses so we don’t have to do the things we should.

The issue is when we live with excuses, we don’t find the land of freedom or peace or joy.  We don’t have a chance to live out our lives as God has created us.  We don’t get the opportunity to truly become better and live each day to its fullest.  We just find excuses.  I know I do, even though I know better.  So I come back to my favorite verse.  It is a reminder of how we are God’s handiwork and we are created for good things.  God made something beautiful and remarkable (that’s you and me).  We just have to use what he has given us for his glory.  And if we do that, we may find there are fewer excuses and more life lived.  

May we see how good God has been to us.  May we see our opportunities as gifts.  May we feel encouraged to move forward with fewer excuses and more intent to follow God.  And may it begin with me…because I sure need it.  These excuses need to go.

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Photos included in Devotions by David Cain of The Cain Gallery.