Never

My Aunt and Uncle used to have a cat affectionately known as "Never".  As in, "We will NEVER have a cat." 

Never say never. 

I have a friend who said that everything she said she would never do when she was younger she has done as an adult.  She never says never anymore.

Lately I have been thinking about all the things we can never do.  While you should probably never say never when it comes to something like getting a cat or moving to another state there are a few nevers in life:

You will NEVER be done with the laundry.
Your will NEVER be done cleaning your house.
You will NEVER be thin enough to stop watching what you eat.
You will NEVER be in good enough shape to quit a regular workout routine.
Your marriage will NEVER be strong enough to ignore
You will NEVER be done being a parent.
You will NEVER have enough time to do it all.

More clothes will be dirty tonight when you go to bed, dust and dirt will start settling on your furniture the moment you walk out of the room, that double fudge and caramel brownie with a scoop of chocolate chocolate chip ice cream will always pay you back, your muscles are daring you to give them an excuse to turn to fat, your spouse will always be just as needy as you are, even as adults your children will give you something to do (even if it is as wonderful as play with grandchildren), there will always only be 24 hours in the day and someone is always coming up with a new activity to fill that time.

So what is my point?

I think my point is that we need to relax.  We (and by we I mean ME, you can insert yourself as you see fit) need to stop trying to get out of the tasks of life we deem too insignificant or just plain monotonous and try to learn to have joy in the daily.  And rather than trying to put a temporary bandage over our weight and health issues or marriage problems we need to develop new daily habits that continue not for a while but forever.  We don't stop dieting when we loose weight or stop exercising when the race is over and we can't ignore our marriage just because it seems to be running along fine or stopping engaging in our children's lives when they turn 18.  So we need to work to develop healthy habits that we continue each day.  Habits that become part of our lives.  So that when changes in our life come, stress, routine changes or temptations stand before us we just keep doing what we have always done and are able to safely navigate those inevitable bumps of life.  Habits that keep good food in our fridge, habits that have us sweating a few times a week, habits that tell our spouse we love them every day, habits that assure our children we are there for them and we are listening.

There is another NEVER that comes to mind.  I will never deserve the love of Christ.  I will never be as good as Him.  I can never repay Him for his gift to me.  Luckily He isn't asking me to.  He simply asks me to accept His gift, to accept Him.

Rom 5:8
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

And a few encouraging NEVERs:

Romans 4:8

"Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will NEVER count against them."
2 Thes 3:13
"And as for you, brothers and sisters, NEVER tire of doing what is good."

Romans 8:39
"neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,(in other words it will NEVER happen) will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."