Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
Colossians 3:23‭-‬24 NLT

An inheritance.

Many children know that when they grow older they will receive an inheritance. Some inherit a farm, others money, some a business or a company, maybe you inherit your mom’s china or your dad’s watch, maybe you inherit a treasure map! Many look forward ‘some’ inheritance but most don’t look to having a ‘big’ inheritance, generally you don’t inherit a fortune (though that would be nice,) but one thing everyone inherits is a name. Your last name is an inheritance that you are guaranteed. That may not bring joy to some, but a last name is something you can build on, just because it held pain for you in the past doesn’t mean you can’t cause it to hold stature in the future!
One thing we have inherited that we don’t tend to think about is a title. Yes, a title. We are princes and princesses, royalty! God is our Father and He has promised us an inheritance in His Kingdom! Someday, we will be granted a royal crown as a gift for our Faith and Loyalty as Children of God. We don’t need to chase after carnal things, we have a royal inheritance. No matter what we inherit here on earth, or don’t inherit, in Heaven we have a Father who loves us and a palace to call home!

Pruned

So. I purchased a plant about a year ago that simply said ‘mexican hat’ also known as ‘dragon’s spine’. It is a green succulent with green buds that grow and drop and produce more plants. It seemed a little depressed lately so I pruned back the yellow leaves and left it alone. Then it grew a…. spiky…thing. I wasn’t sure if I should I leave the spike or cut it off but a gut feeling said leave it. So it grew and grew and grew until it was about a foot tall, then one morning, pop! Flowers emerged. Nothing I had read had said anything about flowers, but they are the most lovely pink flowers with a purple stock and stem. The Bible says that we will be pruned. That never sounds like fun. But sometimes God’s pruning can lead to something beautiful and unexpected. So ask yourself, ‘are my present struggles a pruning?’ Better yet ask God if they are, because if He says ‘yes’ then you will know that your path is right.

Pecked by a big duck

Some days you just have one of those days. Do you know what I mean? You got out of bed, the sun was shining and then…. you make a mistake that takes more effort than you would like to spend on fixing said mistake, plus you feel really bad about having made the mistake to begin with. Then you get notified of a problem that should have been solved months ago but the person who promised they had fixed the issue actually hadn’t done a thing so now not only have you been lied to but your problem is still there. So what do you do?
I called my mom and whined, so don’t do what I did. Then I got to work on fixing my mistake and I asked God for help so I would know how to fix my mistake. Then I went to deal with the person who had left me with a problem that they had sworn they had fixed. (I’m not being petty, the problem was costing me financially.) As I was debating on which ‘YOU LIED TO ME!’ Emoji looked the most condescending I felt a Holy Spirit twinge. That feeling that says, ‘hang on. Don’t do it that way.’ That feeling led me to finding the phone number of the person in charge, and being able to deal with my problem directly. I am also proud to say that I did not even mention the name of the person who had being screwing me over to their boss, not once….almost….but I didn’t do it! When I got home my problems and mistakes were on the mend and I could see how God had led me to the right solutions for all of them.
That’s what God does. He doesn’t always stop us from having bad things happen, but He does help us through them in ways that help us see Him. There will always be things that make us feel like were being pecked away at slowly by a duck, but those things will fade and sometimes we might look back and realize how truly minor our pecks were. Don’t let the pecks drag you down, shoo the duck away and keep walking!