It’s hard to admit this, but there are things I do not do well. There are things that are hard for me to do.
For example, I am not good at counseling. If you come to me for one-on-one help, you’re probably going to leave more depressed than you came in. It’s just not a strength of mine. But because I’m a pastor, and that’s something a pastor is supposed to do, I face the temptation to spend my time trying to get better at it.
By conventional logic, this might seem like the right thing to do. But the problem is that I’m spending valuable time and energy trying to get good at something I’m never going to be good at. And worst of all, it steals my focus away from what is easy for me, from what I actually do well.
The easy things are hard for me. Obviously not because they are difficult to do, but because I feel like I should be spending my time making the hard things easy. And that’s what makes the easy things hard.
It strikes me that most people often spend too much time trying to improve their weaknesses rather than trying to perfect their strengths. While the first option sounds commendable, it is actually a bad way to spend your energy. Upgrading from bad to mediocre is not impressive or even useful.
The person who makes the greatest impact is the one who has maximized his or her strengths to their full potential. The thing that is going to set you apart is being the absolute best at what you do well.
I really do not believe God is going to hold you or me accountable for gifts that He did not give us. But He will definitely ask what we did with what he did give us. So I have decided to orient my life around the most significant thing God wants me to do and it’s the thing that I’m good at. I know my strengths, and I’m leveraging all of my time and energy towards them.
Stop making the easy things hard by trying to make the hard things easier.