And Just Like That

“And just like that, I was beach-body ready”...said no one EVER (unfortunately). For the first time, I actually felt beach-body ready(ish) this summer, but it didn’t come overnight - more like three months of hard work. I’m finding out, however, that it doesn’t take quite as long to lose that beach body. A month and a half into slacking off has definitely been apparent...at least that’s what my jeans are telling me. Ok, some of you are thinking, “Girl, the new year and summer have both passed, I’m working on my winter body now; I don’t want to hear about fitness.”  Fine, fine. We’ll save that for resolutions in a few months. But what I DO want to talk about is the pain in the process.

Fun, right? I know, this is one of your favorite subjects...I mean, who doesn’t enjoy walking through pain? Well, pain doesn’t always look or feel the same. For example, working out typically puts your body through physical pain, which I’m now experiencing as I begin to jump back into a routine, and while it doesn’t quite seem worth it in the moment of sweating in the living room, feeling like I’m 90, and just wanting to take a nap, I know the end goal will be worth it. Why? Why will it be worth it? Well, for one I’ll feel better physically. Two, I’ll be stronger and have more stamina, so I can better keep up with life. And most importantly, at least for me, is the fact that I get to look back over the process, the pain, the hard work and see how far I’ve come.

Pain in the process can also be related to pursuing a dream. Along with my own pursuits, I’m watching so many friends of mine pursue their dreams right now, and it doesn’t always look pretty or glamorous. They’re digging into the everyday things - finding housing, working “regular” jobs, paying bills, taking classes, building community, ya know...life - but they’re also holding their dreams in front of them anticipating that it will be worth the pain in the process. For things like this, we walk through emotional and mental pain in the process of being present and doing the necessary things to move forward while keeping our eyes on the prize. I look forward to the day where we are all sitting around saying, “Man that sucked...BUT it was so worth it! Look how far we’ve come!”

We don’t tend to like this subject or idea of pain. It has somehow gotten a bad rap over time and has become something to stay away from at all costs, which is why we often find things to numb pain or avoid it altogether, especially when we’re dealing with the pain of loss. But I want to talk about the pain of gain in this post - “no pain, no gain”. Yeah, I went there. It is so cliché but so true. One of my favorite quotes from Kris Vallotton, which I’m currently realizing the truth in is “vision gives pain a purpose.” When you have no vision in your process or in the middle of pain, it is easy to feel like a fish out of water floundering around on hot, grainy sand trying desperately to breathe and figure out what is happening, but when you catch vision of home, of life, of a dream, hope is ignited and the pain of flopping your way across the sand becomes worth it to make it to that place of vision.

So “vision gives pain a purpose,” and the pain in the process is what gives value to your vision. It is easy to get into the process and begin to wonder if it’s worth it - What am I doing? Why am I here? Why am I putting myself through so much pain? Should the process be this painful? Will the end goal be worth it? Sometimes the process is not as bad or painful as we make it out to be - we simply need a perspective adjustment, especially when patience, endurance, and perseverance are required, which is usually the case. Sometimes the process actually is as bad or painful as we are experiencing it, but I am realizing that the pain in the process is what gives value to the end goal or vision. Some of the most beautiful things (dreams, relationships, etc.) come out of the painful processes. If a dream were to happen “just like that,” it probably wouldn’t have as much value, but when you know the “blood, sweat and tears,” so to speak, that it took to get there, you understand the value of it. Your pain in the process gives value to your vision. You then get the privilege to say, “Look how far we’ve come!” while fully understanding the weight of that statement.

We can tend to want the “just like that” moment or ending, especially when we are in the painful process or we don’t understand the pain in the process - this is the place where we have to believe it is somehow worth it; this is the place where there is an invitation into deeper relationship with the Lord, yourself, and the people around you in order to catch and establish vision, and then you hope and expect and anticipate that it will be worth it on the other side. And sometimes, the “just like that” moments do happen and still mean a lot to us, but I think even better than those times are the times of painful, persevering processes that seem to linger on forever and then “just like that” a switch is flipped...except that you know all of the work that has led up to the “just like that” moment. You know the vision that was held before you in the painful process that allowed you to keep going because it gave purpose to your pain, and you understand the value of your vision because of the pain that you walked through to reach it.

Maybe you’re in what feels like the never-ending process - keep going! Maybe you’re afraid to start the process of pursuit because it feels too late or because you know the price is high -  it’s never too late and high price means high value! Maybe you have just begun the process and are already losing momentum or wondering if it’s worth it - hold your dreams before you and keep saying yes! The “just like that” moment will eventually come, and it will come with the privilege of saying, “Look how far we’ve come!” and that is what makes it worth it all.