Do Hard Things

Last night’s Praxis Wednesday was more interview preparation, and we collaborate with other Praxians about questions we might be met with; we developed and stories and ideas together. As I’ve touched on before, Praxians are the kind of people who take on a challenge and do hard things. We do what no one expects, go above and beyond, and keep pushing ourselves. 

The challenge we had on the call was to think up hard interview questions to ask each other, so we could be better prepared for if similar questions are asked on a real interview. It was good to think through stories and experiences and hard things we had done in the past. We challenged each other to develop compelling stories based on the points we wanted to make, and make our responses more valuable overall. 

The book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris capitalizes on these concepts as well. It talks about how teenagers and young adults are often allowed to slack to a certain extent. What young people should do though is capitalize on this and impress our elders instead. The Biblical mission statement of the book is from 1 Timothy Chapter 4 and reads:

¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

The challenge here is to be a person who can accomplish anything and that age won’t hinder that. Whether it’s loving others unconditionally or working hard or communicating well, or something else. Though I will add that this doesn’t mean you should do stupid things, it means you should try your best to accomplish good things. I’d recommend the book. 

I’m lastly reminded of the story in the Bible about Abraham and Sarah, how they wanted a child so bad but thought they had gotten too old. But when Sarah laughs at God for telling them they could have a child the next verse reads:

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Genesis 18

I think this verse is a great reminder that even though things can seem out of time, and impossible God can do the impossible. We can do hard things when our strength is in the Lord. 

Hard things are just that, but they’re not impossible with God. So go forth and do hard things, and remember that even though you might be doing it for you, you might impact others for the better as well. 

Photo courtesy of Katie Liz Photography