If the Grass Isn’t Greener, Keep Watering

When Esther became Queen of all of Persia, she might have thought that certain things would become easier. She might have thought that she would never have to be afraid, or vulnerable, or in danger ever again. I think a lot of times in life we assume if we reach a certain position or achieve a certain accomplishment or cross a certain milestone then there will be a permanent change in our lives and we'll never have to deal with certain difficulties or hardships ever again. Esther had more power and privilege than almost anyone in history, and yet she had to plan and plot and ask all of her people to fast and pray for her so that she could beg for her life, and theirs. Our challenges may change both in degree and kind at different stages of our life, but they never go away. To still struggle after checking all of the boxes for career and family and Spiritual and financial and personal development does not mean we are failures or inherently flawed or that God or the universe hates us. We are going to be challenged and tested until the day we die. But with every challenge we face comes an opportunity to learn and grow and triumph and conquer. Esther could have turned inward and felt sorry for herself that even after going from peasant to queen life was hard and dangerous, but instead she turned outward and thought of how many people she could save if she did the hard, scary thing. She and her people were blessed because Esther met her new challenges with faith rather than fear.