Persisting

"All demand for constant light, for ever the best, all attempt at eliminating or minimizing the cross and trial, is so much soft folly and puerile trifling." -Baron Friedrich Von Hugel

I remember once telling a mentor of mine that I just wanted to be a mature believer, close to God and connected intimately with His desires and purposes. This wise mentor told me that I needed to be patient, that maturity takes time.

So many things in our society are instant or, at the least, conveniently quick. Cars, microwaves, grocery stores, data plans, Mbps, highways, streaming _______, Starbucks, apps, airplanes, digital cameras, status updates, pneumatic nail guns, text messaging, warm air hand dryers, light switches, the drive thru, narcotics, online learning, quickrete, money transfers, and pre-approved anythings-these things fill our daily lives. We are so used to getting what we want or "need" on our timelines. We barely ever have to wait for anything.

Imagine you're at a Wendy's and you order a biggie fry, a Dr Pepper, and a spicy chicken sandwich to go. How long does it take before you start to look over the counter at the "workers," as if them seeing you peer around the counter(designed to hide what's really happening in that "kitchen") will actually speed up the process of heating up your fresh meat? Maybe 5 minutes will go by if you're a patient person. Or maybe you don't like fast food; instead, you're at the DMV and you get your little ticket and are initially excited because you're number 103 and the scrolling marquee has number 99 on it. Soon you realize that there are five sequences of tickets being pumped out from that little machine at the entrance and yours is actually about 15 people deep. This discourages you a little bit until you realize that, of the 12 DMV employees, only 3 of them are actually working and 1 of the 3 is only doing drive tests. Now, how are you feeling? We're so upset when we have to wait for something that realistically should or could take a lot longer than we would ever be willing to wait.

We're just so used to getting what we want quickly. The concepts of cultivation, delayed gratification, savings, or commitment are not too liked by a lot of us. We like to get things as quickly and easily as is possible.

I've noticed that this mentality has caused me several frustrations over the years, especially in my relationship with the Lord. Often I feel as if the Lord should just go ahead and let me in on His master plan for my life. He knows I want to obey Him. He knows I am willing to listen. If He'd just let me know exactly where I am going to be, what I am going to be doing, how much money I will have in my monthly budget, how many kids I'm going to have, and which kind of car will have the least mechanical failures, then both of our lives would be much simpler.

That's the thing with the Lord though-He's not like our society. He tends to make big movements over long periods of time. He doesn't seem to be as concerned with immediate results or tomorrow's projections as you and I do.




God is a storyteller. He's writing a very long story about Himself. You, me, and everyone else who ever was, is, or will be fits into this story in some way.

I don't read a lot of fiction. But most the people that I've talked to that do, seem to agree with me on this one thing about a good story. Results and resolutions are not what keep a story interesting and addictive. Character transformation or development is what we tend to love in a story. We love falling in love with the characters we hated when we started the story. We can't wait til the next twist where that character that we loved for so long turns dark. And a lot of the great stories that we love so much end with a character getting, at least in some way, what he set out to get. We get our resolution, but we wouldn't have been interested in that resolution unless we felt (however deep it may be) the depth of the journey and sacrifices that the character(s) experienced along the way.

I say that to say this. You and I are just characters. God isn't nearly as interested in the things that all too often consume us regarding the smaller stories of our own lives. In His story, He's all about what we're about in the stories we like-character development.

I've been finding that what develops me, and most of the people that I admire, more than anything is persistence. Persistence in prayer, work, love, forgiveness, discipline, and self development seems to define the faithful. God wants from me and you even more than results- faithfulness. Being steadfast, consistent, predictable, and persistent seems to be the only way to make it successfully through this difficult, pain-filled, and tumultuous life. Maintaining anything as important as our relationships with God and those closest to us is extremely difficult. Persistence produces character development. Characters develop into something that they could never have become had they not persevered throughout the journey-had they not persisted when things were up against them.

Persist through the difficult seasons, remain during the less difficult seasons, then persist again.

Dare all the more...