Small Steps

#1 had a rescheduled Math lesson today. His teacher had a problem meeting tomorrow, so we scheduled for today. After the lesson, we stopped at my chiropractor to see if I could squeeze in. He had already left for lunch. The hours are posted on the door, noting a two hour lunch from 1-3.
"I want to be a chiropractor! You get a two hour lunch, and you don't have to come in until 9:00!" hooted #1. I assured him that it doesn't start out that way.
Later in the afternoon, when I made it in to see the doc, I told him about the conversation. He laughed and said to tell him that after a B.S. pre-med, four years med school, an internship and ten years residency working 7:00-7:00, he too could take two hour lunches. He told me that his grown children think it is absurd that they should work weekends to make a little extra money. "I washed pots and pans to get money," he said.
It is so easy for kids to look at their current lives and think that it will be this way when they start out. They should start with a great house, eat out whenever they like, buy whatever they like, etc. From our experience in college ministry, many kids feel this way, and are able to get credit so that it is actually "true" for them. Then, one day, they discover that they can't work hard enough or long enough to pay off all of those bills, and they sink.
I think this is also applicable to our spiritual lives. We become a new Christian, look around at the "old" Christians, and expect to be able to serve the way they do, pray like they do, stand up under pressures the way they do. But just like with finances, you have to start at the bottom. You have to have little prayers before you get the big ones. You have to serve in small ways before you are ready for the hard cases, and you have to be faithful with a little before you can be faithful with a lot.
Many new converts try to bite off more than they can chew at the beginning, and then when the real tests come, they flounder and sink. If you are a new Christian, don't try to pray for two hours every morning; start with ten minutes and see how it goes. Don't try to help an entire hobo village; start with one person in need and truly be a friend and helper.
Some new Chrstians may "strike it rich" the first time and be able to handle the hard stuff, but most of us have to work up to a job like that. Just like getting your financial rewards comes later in life, being a faithful servant to God comes with time and practice.