Following the way of the Lord obviously is the right thing to do.  It’s a good thing and should make us happy.  Why then is it so often marked by difficulty?  Why wouldn’t God make our path an easy one?  If we go to the New Testament we see that actually it never was easy and when our Lord was forming his disciples to be bold proclaimers of his Word he formed them through challenge and difficulty.  Learning how he did it with them then can make us better leaders now.