Word of the Day: PERSEVERANCE

You may have seen my Facebook post about the recent building of a concrete stone wall for my garden and my frenzy to complete it without any help. You may have wondered "what the heck?" Let me explain.

Of all the character traits my parents modeled for my siblings and me, the number one trait was perseverance. You may not care for my family, but one thing you can never say is that we are quitters.

 About 40 years ago my parents lost all their worldly goods because of some difficult economic times and decisions. They lost their home, their furniture (except for a bedroom set and dining room set). They lost their cars, other possessions and a good size chunk of real estate in the form of a golf course and a subdivision. They separated and then divorced after 30 years of marriage. Both were down for the count...it's the closest I had ever seen them go to the precipice of despair. I was devastated to see them almost give in to the temptations that came with being totally void of hope.

My mother, who had never had a job beside being a wife and mother, landed a good job. Several jobs at one time, I might add. Then she got another better job, made her way alone and ended up touring Europe and living comfortably. My father was hit emotionally and financially even harder than my mother. But he got another job and after several years of struggling found his way back into the photography business and started over. They re-married and in the process of putting their lives together again suffered another business loss...but after that, their marriage was once again
strong and they left this world a better place for their final examples of fortitude and hanging onto their faith in God and each other.

My family is an athletic one...except for me. Funny that I should marry a coach. But even though I don't particularly like sports, I like the fact that the games teach grit and determination. If you don't succeed at first, you put your nose to the grindstone and dig deeper and try again. One of the principles our family lives by is this,
"The shame is not in falling. The shame is in not rising and fighting again."

When we prepared for our first grandchild's birth, we were delighted! We painted, decorated, planned, bought little clothes...everything with a heart full of expectation and excitement. The day of the birth we were presented with a beautiful baby boy who had suffered a stroke. How severe? What do we expect? We were given no hope...he may never walk, he may never talk. NICU became our home away from home...but we saw something in that tiny person. Every time we would touch him or talk to him his heart monitor would speed up and he'd turn his head toward us.

Something happened to me in that NICU...I decided NOT to take "No way" as an answer.
At four, he knew his states and capitals. Last night he started first base on his high school team's baseball team. Yes, he is paralyzed all the way down his right side. Yes, he has an unorthodox manner of throwing and running. But, darn it, he doesn't quit. He gets tired, he has to take medicine, peers have made fun of him, he gets down sometime, but he perseveres. When he was little I would tell him, " If I could have chosen any little boy from the Little Boy Store,
it would have been you!" That's still as true today as it was then.

God allows certain situations in our life to teach us, to mold us and to shape us for His glory. We aren't here to live the HGTV life. We are here to show the love of God to others and to direct them toward God...to help them persevere to the end.

That concrete stone edging on my flower garden was a symbol to me. Some physical problems have had me very down the past two years. My endurance began flagging...my attitude did, too. So I pictured what I wanted the edge of my garden to look like in my mind's eye. While I was digging that 20 foot trench and picking up those concrete stones, I kept my "eye on the prize"...I refused to stop until I completed the task.

 I hope to do that with the remainder of my life. I want my children to be able to say that I persevered to the end. More than that, I want my Savior to say, " Well done, good and faithful servant." That's what I want for you, too, dear reader. No matter what you have faced, don't give up. Persevere. With God's help and a little help from your friends and family, YOU CAN RISE FROM THE ASHES AND SOAR ONCE MORE!

WORD OF THE DAY: PERSEVERANCE.