Hard work is HARD! If we want things to go well we have to make preparations. Want to have a fun party, then you gotta plan. Want to do well in Algebra, then you’ve got to study? Want to get a degree in school, then you have to do what it takes to get that degree. Want to succeed in your plans, then you have to do more than daydream. You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and get to work. My kids have always heard from me, get your work done, then you can play. Well that’s not to say that this isn’t some deep fatherly advice. No, it’s just common sense. The farmer has to plan, make preparations for the soil, then plant, then harvest. It’s a lot of work. Anything that’s worth doing, is going to take preparations. These are earthly things we have ben considering, but how much more the things of God, spiritual growth? Can we expect to just show up and boom, God is just going to zap us with all sorts of profound knowledge? There’s the saying that says you get out of it what you put into it. And there’s some truth to that. God has designed us and desires for us to have relationship with Him. But we have to do things His way. We can’t just fly by the seat of our pants. We can’t just go making stuff up. You wouldn’t want to go see a doctor and not have put in the tremendous amount of study required so that they can treat your condition. You don’t want just anyone putting on a white coat, strolling into the room and making stuff up on the fly. Then why we we suppose that it would be OK for us to do the same when it comes to the things of God? When we meet with God, do we really understand what we are doing? Do we really grasp who it is whose presence we have come into? If we come to church, to presumably meet with God and worship him, and we return to our homes, unchanged, might it be that we have failed to adequately make preparations?