Pastor’s Corner: You Can Do This Hard Thing

September 29, 2021

A friend sent me a link to a Carrie Newcomer song recently: “You Can Do This Hard Thing.” It was well timed, arriving at the beginning of a day when, to be honest, I was not certain I had all that I needed to get all the things done. The song itself is lovely. It brought tears to my eyes, especially at this lyric:

“From the muddy ground
Comes a green volunteer
In a place we thought barren
New life appears
Morning will come whistling
Some comforting tune
For you”

Here on Hawai’i Island, of course, the green volunteers rise from rocky ground.

More important than the song, however, was the confidence of my friend, not knowing what I might be facing in the day, and still telling me, “You can do this hard thing.”

Friends, even with new cases of COVID-19 falling, we are a long way from the life we want to have. We are a long way from visible smiles and the gentle hugs of greeting. We are a long way from feeling comfortable in the crowded grocery store. We are a long way from church lunches. So we have hard things to do, some of which had been easy things, but in these conditions they are hard things indeed.

Friends, I believe in you. You can do this hard thing.

One of the purposes of the Church is to give us friends and companions who will help us do the hard things. But there is another, and it is also important. When the hard thing is not something you can get concrete help with, you can do it with the confidence of your faith community and its pastor.

Friends, I believe in you. You can do this hard thing.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

Photo by Eric Anderson.