Perseverance Just the mention of this word can bring sighs of exhaustion, and discouragement. We’ve all experienced times of perseverance that brought about a positive result in our lives, as well as when we didn’t persevere and things didn’t turn out so well.
One of the greatest examples of perseverance I know happened to my oldest son when he was just 5 or 6 years old. A local grocery store was sponsoring a coloring contest with the promise of a great prizes. He loved to color, so he wanted to enter the contest. It was a full page picture in the newspaper of a jolly Santa Clause eating cookies by a fire place. My son began coloring the best he could, which was actually quite well. But the picture had a lot of detail, and it was very large, so after some time he grew tired of the whole thing. Though I didn’t make him do it in one day, I did insist he finish what he started, and he did need to get it in by the dead line. With maybe a few tears, and a lot of determination, he finally finished his picture and we took it to the grocery store. To our amazement, the next week, he was announced the winner! He won a wonderful Tee-ball set that him and his brother enjoyed a lot the next summer. He persevered even when it got hard, long and boring, and he got a great pay off of a great prize. After all these years, I still have that picture in with all our Christmas decorations, it’s a constant reminder that perseverance pays off to me.
I’ve often thought of his perseverance coloring that picture, when I’ve wanted to quit and give up. Though I’ve never won any prizes physically, perseverance alway pays off.
Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.“