I had this little, delicate looking flower that my husband planted in a small container with a green filler plant. The green plant grew so much it began to choke out the little flower. I could see it beginning its death march, so I pulled the flower out of the container and promptly gave up on it.
I just tossed it into the yard to be mowed over, but I must have dropped a piece in the rocks the container sits on. I hadn’t given it another thought until a couple of weeks ago I saw the flower fighting through the rocks at the edge of my sidewalk. It had overcome multiple attempts on its life and still found a way to grow and thrive.
It has made me happy watching it endure and come back to full life. Endurance. That’s what it was and what I so appreciated. Merriam-Webster defines endurance as “the ability to withstand hardship or adversity.” That little flower sure withstood some hardship.
It got me thinking about enduring. Then as God often does, He began sprinkling messages of endurance all over my world. I love how He works like that. It’s like I can’t escape what He wants me to know. It’s another reminder of the lengths He will go to get through to us. Thoughts of endurance began to take root like that little flower. I heard it in a song. Someone asked me a question about enduring. It came up in a conversation with one of my kids.
My first thought about endurance might not be what you expect. I thought of the comfort of knowing God’s love for us endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34). I have long gotten hung up on love enduring forever as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. I can’t help but think about how hard I can be to love sometimes and how thankful I am that God’s love for me endures. It endures through darkness of my own making. When we disobey or stray away from Him and what He has for us, He still loves us. That love endures enough to come after us.
It’s beautiful to think about His love for us enduring. What’s less than beautiful for most of us is how much enduring we must do on this side of Heaven. The question I fielded and the talk with my son both stemmed not from God’s enduring love, but from our part of enduring.
The key lesson in the conversation with my son was that sometimes we just have to choose to keep going. Often it would be easier to give up and quit. Many of the trials we need to face require endurance. It’s only on the other side of enduring that we can claim the prize.
I’m struck by Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 about running our race in a manner to win it. Notably it’s verse 27 (NKJV) that jumps out to me, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
We must choose to endure. The decision to keep going through the pain when quitting would provide momentary relief is not easy. It is, however, required to live how God intends us to live. If I give up before I learn, before I grow, before I give God the opportunity to work, not only do I lose, but people that I may impact also get shortchanged and suffer.
We see this in Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV). “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
People are watching and learning from us. If we are reflecting Christ to others, then endurance is a necessary part of the process. He endured suffering we can’t begin to fathom for our sake. The example has been set. When we are faced with hard days, challenging people, and adversity of all sorts, we must make the choice to persevere.
Everything and everyone may scream that giving up is acceptable or even the smart move – especially in today’s world where communication is easy. This situation isn’t going the way I want, so I quit. This is harder than I thought, so I’m not going to do it. God didn’t answer how I wanted, so I’m not going to believe.
Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting that we choose to endure real abuse of any sort. I am not saying we endure the pain of a broken leg to go for a run. There are situations that require us to get out of unsafe environments. There is a time for rest, course correction, and just realizing that we’ve made a mistake and need to stop immediately.
We don’t win a race before we get to the finish line. Victories come on the other side of enduring the challenge. Friends, I know it isn’t fun or easy, but it is worth it. You’re going to grow closer to God and the person He created you to be with each trial you work through. I’m cheering for you. Don’t give up.
