Good Morning,
I am sitting in the kitchen this morning, watching the occasional car drive through and I am enjoying the peaceful quiet. I have the window in front of me open and I picked up the scent of a neighbor starting to smoke some meat somewhere in the neighborhood. My Door County Peanut Butter Crunch Coffee is hot and is as tasty as ever.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God., what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Everyone is traveling through life on their own personal road from birth to death. None of us know how many stops along the way we will have to make. One thing I am sure of is that until the day the Lord calls us to our last moments on this earth, we need to endure many things. Perseverance within our hearts must be a constant companion on our road to the end.. renewal of perseverance needs to happen daily. Prayer and being in the Word of God is A DAILY DOES OF RECHARGE!
It could be you are seeking a new source of employment and you just can's seem to find one that fits your needs. Don't quit, keep looking. Sometimes we settle for good when great is one more hour spent searching. The marriage you committed to is only good and could be better. Stick it out. Don't quit. Pray for changes within you and your spouse. Persevere. Your health seems to be failing you. There are options for treatment that give you another set of days. Face that fight and use those days to do good for others. Persevere until you can't.
I witnessed a friend of mine crippled up by failed attempts to repair his knees go fishing with me recently. Those days were long and hard for him, yet he persevered and set an example for his boatmates not to quit, but fish and enjoy each other's company. Our neighbor is suffering from ALS. I have watched him deteriorate slowly fighting immense pain daily. Yet he walked over to our house to deliver a quart of ice cream to us, with a smile. On a tough road he is thinking of others. He is persevering. Maybe you are stalled on the road on being unable to forgive someone. Persevere and make the first attempt to repair a pothole in your life. Don't let a grudge rob you of doing the right thing. Along the road you are traveling, there are many attempts to detour or temptations for you to quit, become withdrawn, and not push yourself to be a blessing to others, or see the beauty in the world you not yet seen. Perseverance interruptions can take two forms and can be either physical and emotional, or both.
Yesterday being the fourth of July we attended the local parade. I still am not recovered from a recent surgery and the night before was rough. When I awoke I was tempted to just stay home. But there was my wife dressed in red, white and blue ready to go. She looked at me and said, "Do you want to drop the parade and stay home? You look miserable." I almost took her up on the idea. I replied "no, I want to go". We did go and enjoyed a parade that in my opinion was a "Keepa" (Brooklyn slang for another time. The parade route was lined with people (a crowd) . As we were waiting, a young couple with two children approached us and asked if we minded if they sat with their children in the space next to my right. My first thoughts were, oh boy! Here comes mischief and I am sure this won't be good. The kids ages seemed to be about two and four years old. They sat down and waited for the parade to begin. We stood when the honor guard approached with the United States Flag and place our hands over our hearts and removed our hats. I looked over at the two kids and their parents and saw them exhibiting the same reverence as me for our symbol of freedom. I teared up a little. Any pain I was enduring was worth seeing that. But the best was yet to come. In our parades it is a custom for those marching or riding in the parade to pitch small candies to the children on the parade route. The kids scramble around grabbing the candy like it is gold sprinkled on the streets. Yet these two children only picked up what was thrown right to them. They let other kids pick up the candy in front of them, basically being willing to only take a few and leave the rest to others. I was amazed. Occasionally candy landed at my feet, and I would point to the candy for our two parade neighbors and they would pick it up. When the parade was over the oldest child and her sibling came to Rene and I. They had two pieces of bubble gum and said " Sir you didn't get any candy. Here are two for you people." ( Rene)
I persevered yesterday and saw kindness at work on my road to recovery that was priceless. I took the gum and thanked them. The parents thanked us for sharing the space and moving a little so they had enough room and the event was completed. But my heart was much lighter and happier as we went home.
Keep going, be a blessing to someone today. Be a blessing to yourself. Make perseverance your travel companion. The road is long, but might be shorter than you think. if you want to succeed, PERSEVERE!
God bless,
Marty
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