It goes without saying that I definitely want more perseverance. I want to rise above, I want to conquer, I want to run when others are hyper-ventilating, and walk when others are crawling. I want to push through when others give up, but I have to admit that I have a natural habit of falling instead of rising, surrendering instead of conquering, puking from the long run, and crossing finishing lines on all fours. I, my friends, am weak.
I’m encouraged today, however. It’s not about me. I try and try, but it’s hard to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps when your fingers are broken. Every single thing that takes perseverance are usually the things that mark an incredible life. And I want an incredible life, but every time I try to do something uniquely incredible it feels only halfway. I don’t want a halfway life. But I read something today. It’s funny, the only thing that is hard about perseverance to me is that it requires: patience, faithfulness, and self-control. In the Bible (Galatians 5) it says, “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control…” I think I try too hard at the wrong thing. When you’re led by the Spirit of God you act in those qualities, not because your smarter or stronger, but because your acting in the strength that God gives and not in your own delusion of humanistic idealism.
So with the morning I tie my running shoes as best I can, as I pray that today Jesus would work through me to be His hands today. I stretch my legs for a long run, that I’d run with vibrance and energy, as Jesus would take me into the places that He Himself would go. And I pray for His Spirit to work in me to fill me like a reservoir, filled, brim-full, of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That while I might not be perfect, I may not give up.