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When my son Caleb was five, he found me in the kitchen one Saturday morning, trying to muster the energy to face the day’s work. My head was down as I breathed in the steam from my coffee, and marveled at how quickly the sun had risen. Caleb rubbed my back, and said, “Dad, you’re persevering, because youre keepin’ on keepin’ on. That’s what persevering is.” He gave me a big smile, and scurried off to play with his train set.
It was a mystery to me, when I first read Paul’s letter to the Romans, how to reconcile the exhortation to perseverance (“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it”), with its origin (“…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope”). Paul seemed to be saying that we need perseverance to endure tribulation, yet it is tribulation that brings perseverance.
What I came to know, not long after becoming a Christian as an adult, is that Jesus wasn’t kidding—in this world we will have troubles, whether we like it or not. Having suffered and been preserved in our faith, however, we have our character tempered, yielding hope—for what? That we are inching toward the finish line, by the grace and mercy of a God of second—and in my case, third and fourth—chances.
I don’t feel any more wise or faithful than before I first felt the weight of grief on my shoulders. Sometimes that weight presses down, and I forget to hope. My children are extensions of my truncated soul in these times, coming in a whisper, or a giggle, or an admonition to persevere. Keep on keepin’ on.
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Keywords: admonition, becoming a christian, exhortation, grace and mercy, grief, hope paul, perseverance, persevere, tribulation, tribulations |  |
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And at the end of the day it is a gift that we can keep on keepin’ on.
Lovely story, thanks!
My wife is the quintessential perseverer, if there is such a term. She struggles with a chronic back condition and yet day after day she unfolds herself out of bed and proceeds to welcome the day with a smile on her face.
Oh, if I could only muster up that kind of grace!
Don’t ya love it when a five year old displays such understanding!
Once, when my children were little (about the same age as your son), I was having an “I’m a terrible mother anxiety attack.” The kids were watching a video and had their juice boxes, so I went out to the front step to pray and to cry. To lament.
A few moments later, my son opened the door, saw me praying and said (no joke), “This is a good Mommy. This is not a bad Mommy. And I rebuke you Satan, In the name of Jesus!”
I was dumbfounded. But it was exactly right and exactly what I needed. Somehow, I had taken a fiery dart of the enemy. God does use our children like that, sometimes.
If there is one trait that God has really worked into my husband, it’s perseverance. He won’t quit or give up, just keep on going.
When he was starting his business, making door to door contacts to be known, he wore a hole in the soles of his shoes.
I see the value of that little-toted gift.