Those who can remain.. are a rare breed. I don’t necessarily mean win, I just mean remain. Hang in there. Finish. Stick to it until it is done. But, unfortunately, very few of us do that. Our human tendency is to quit too soon. Our human tendency is to stop before we cross the finish line. (No Wonder They Call Him The Savior ~ Max Lucado)
I had a long conversation with my dad yesterday about sticking to things. It was mainly in the context of my now defunct marriage. He believes I stayed too long in a really abusive and bad situation. I tried to explain that I needed to stay until I knew I’d done everything I possibly could to salvage it. Partly because I needed to be able to completely move on afterward with no guilt and no regret, and I have. Partly because I promised myself I’d never be the one to call it quits, and I wasn’t. I can walk confidently away from that situation knowing I did all I could, and knowing I have the strength of character to stick it out, even when it’s really hard, horrible and everyone else is telling you to get out. I know I have sticking power.
In general though, people don’t stick around much. I’m not sure we’re teaching the next generation that sticking with something even when it’s hard is worth it. We put them in little league, where everyone’s a winner, and nothing hurts or is disappointing, and when they’re tired of it, or just don’t want to make the effort to go to practice or games, we let them out of it. Then we wonder why we have a huge generation of folks who can’t seem to stick to a committed relationship. It’s because they didn’t practice sticking it out in all those little things growing up. When the going got tough, they got going. No Pain = No Pain in their eyes. “Please, just let my life be comfortable and easy” is their motto. I want to yell at them “grow up!” Life is not always sunshine and roses. It’s not always easy and peaceful. Sometimes life is full of disappointment. It’s full of waiting for something that never quite materializes. Sometimes, life is no fun. But, at the other end, if you endure, if you remain, if you’re faithful and steadfast, you come out a whole, complete, beautiful creation with God’s fingerprints all over.
“Jesus said, 'Remain in me, and I will remain in you.'” John 15:4
I know you're probably getting tired of snowman pictures, but this is what I found after I came home from church today, and it just seems to fit this blog post. I can't beileve it has remained standing for this long!!
3 comments:
She doesn't look very person like anymore.
Your snowman stuff makes me think of Calvin and Hobbes.
As for sticking to something, there is a difference in working on something that IS fixable, and sticking to something that is bad for you.
While I will agree that we need to teach kids to work though things, we also need to teach them not to waste time on bad things.
Not everything NEEDS to be stuck to. If my car keeps breaking, there reaches a point where fixing it is silly. Just get a new one. Relationships are odd in that way. We acknowledge that everything else in live is temporary, yet we expect relationships to last forever. And that's stupid.
guru: She finally gave up the ghost after her head completely melted off. Now she's just a big snowball.
sghoul: I suppose it depends on the type of relationship you're talking about. In general, familial relationships like parent/child and spouses, yeah, those are supposed to last forever. Other relationships have seasons and God brings people into your life for a time to help you learn something you couldn't otherwise on your own.
"wasting time on bad things" may actually build more character and teach the child more in the long run than just giving up.
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