I'm racing the clock to get something posted this morning. This is not my usual way of operating. I like to be organized, thorough and have my posts for the next week written on Friday. It saves me time, and still allows me to stay on top of things.
I had written something for today, but decided at the last minute to pull it. It wasn't bad. There was nothing wrong with it either. It just didn't feel right. At least, it didn't feel right for today. So, here I am, we're headed into mid-morning, and I've got nothin'.
Well, maybe not nothin'. There is one little somethin' on my heart right now. (Please excuse the typos as this is coming straight from my heart to this page - unedited.)
One word.
Perseverance.
You know, it would seem as though life is determined to chew us up and spit us out sometimes. We go from one pit to another pit. Sometimes it's our circumstances that push us over the edge and we're down, gasping for breath. Other times someone comes along and shoves us into a very dark place. There are some holes we dig ourselves into, and then we have to struggle and fight to dig ourselves back out again. In those weak and empty spaces of our lives it becomes increasingly tempting to give up. We want to just throw in the towel and say, "I quit!" Have you ever been there? Oh my word, I know I have. Many times I have found myself pressed in beyond what I feel I am capable of handling, and I've wanted to let go. Release my grip and fall back into the hole of my sorrow. That, my friends, is a very lonely, sad and broken place to be.
What keeps me from giving in to the flesh in me that wants to throw up my hands and surrender to the pit that has tried so hard to enslave me? What keeps the soul from shriveling up and dying away? What holds me steady, when everything else is falling apart? Perseverance. Tenacity. Clinging to God and not the rope of my own making. Clinging to the intricate strands of God's truth. Trusting in the Lord, and lifting up sacrifices of thanksgiving when I don't necessarily see anything around me to be thankful for. Grounding myself in the Word of God that gives me the unction to keep pressing on, keep moving forward and keep going deeper spiritually rather than deeper into the pit. Perseverance is not about willing myself to just get through it, or relying on my own strength. Perseverance is charging forward in God's strength when I'm so weak and broken I can't see the light of day.
Romans 5:3-5
Not only so, be we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Perseverance produces character (and I long to be a woman of integrity, raising children with godly character), and character produces hope (without hope, what else is there?). We keep moving forward. We keep pressing on. Even in our weakest moment, by simply leaning on God - or perhaps falling to pieces in his arms - we are persevering. We will not let go, and we will not give up.
My one thought for today: Perseverance!
(Inspired by the teaching of Linda Noah at a women's retreat I attended this past weekend.)