How often do we awake with the feeling that we have to do something differently in our lives to bring about change? The drudgery of life forces us to imagine the day when we no longer have to be a part of the proverbial “rat race,” when we could have more choice in how we live our lives. We dream of the freedom that awaits us, when we no longer have to confront the morning traffic that eats up so much of our time and leaves us feeling drained by the end of each day, after day, after day, after….. (You get the point). We long to spend more time with family and friends, dedicate our efforts to other meaningful endeavors and support the causes we believe in. We yearn for financial freedom, we wonder if we’ll ever reach the point when we no longer have to worry about the bills, whether we’ll ever get to take that dream vacation or purchase the dream car. The truth is that life is not easy and “the daily grind” is a natural consequence of living. There is an old saying that “if a man does not work he should not eat,” and by extension he should not be able to pay his rent, purchase a car, buy gas for the car, a house, pay for rent, recreation etc. Simply put, we have a responsibility to ourselves do what is necessary to provide for ourselves and our families. There is nothing wrong with hard work and making sacrifices to attain the things that we need and want. One thing that people should consider is that any day that a person gets up and is blessed to have a job is a good day. Even if that job is one that he does not like, that person should consider himself blessed because this is how (as mentioned earlier) we are able to take care of our needs. Working is a significant part of living.

Though the average individual has to slog it out daily to get by, and we understand that “paying our dues” is a part of life; almost everyone at some point asks if there is another perhaps better way to do this. Most people come around, and they keep on moving, they go about their business with a clear understanding that “this is how it is done”. After many years many people get their reward and there is a sense of pride (rightly so) in knowing that they worked hard to achieve their goals. They have learned a lot along the way and the experience has made them better people who can share with others the virtues required to get where they are. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of this, and in fact; it should be admired. We can in fact learn a lot from these people and we are correct to hold them in high esteem.

On the other hand there are others who are not content to go the traditional way of doing things in order to accomplish their desire. Like those mentioned above they question whether there is a better way to do things, but the drudgery eats away at them a little more, and the daily grind grates away at them to the point where they become bitter. They want to do something different but there is a certain amount of security in doing what they do. They do not want to take a chance on something different because they fear failure, ridicule, what others think, they simply feel trapped or they are not willing to try something different. They never lose their desire for something different though, and they continue to dream of how life can be different and what they could accomplish with the right opportunity. Very often opportunities are all around them, but they never reach out to grab any of them and life continues for them as usual.

There is another group made up of a select few who also want more for their lives, and they seem to achieve their hearts desire almost effortlessly. People see them and they are often envied, others think that they had it easy and that they do not know the value of hard work. The truth though is that many of these individuals do know what it is like to work hard. Like the others they experienced the grind, the hardship. Many of them had the same dreams and frustrations wondering if they would ever escape the fate that ominously seemed to await them. The big difference with these people though is that many of them were willing to “step out of their comfort zone”, or forced by the sheer extreme circumstances they faced to do something different, and knew that if they did not; their life would remain on the same course or become worse. These people often take chances that others are not willing to take. There is a scripture from the bible that says “faith without works is dead”. It was written to people at a certain church to tell them that if it is in the power of their hand to help someone in need then they should do so and not tell the person to have faith God will take care of you. This scripture is true and we should remember it when we run in to those who through no fault of their own are faced with difficult circumstances in their life and need a helping hand, but it can also be applied to an individual’s life. God is not going to come down and just change one’s life around. One must be willing to take advantage of opportunities and act, it is the only way change can come.