(05.31.21 – Pressing On -Romans 5:3)
My friend, may I ask you a question? Pressing on; do you sometimes it's far too difficult but faced with the alternative, failure, it may be harder yet.?
My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.
I'm M. Clifford Brunner.
The woods here at Beech Springs are full of woodpeckers. At this time of the year they resound with the sounds of hammering and chiseling as the woodpeckers drill into the soft Beech in an effort to establish nest holes. Since many of the Beech trees tend to hollow out as they grow, there are plenty of targets for their husbandry. Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch a Red-bellied Woodpecker as he began to chisel out a hole in a rotted Beech stub about 30 feet up the trunk of one of trees bordering our side yard. He hammered for about an hour and managed a hole that was about half complete. The next day he was back, again finishing the hole. Over the course of a week or so I watched as he and his mate finished out their snug little next. Then I noticed something odd. The very next day I watched as a Starling, a bird that never does its own drilling, had taken over the hole. Remarkably, undeterred, in just a day or two the woodpecker pair were back at it excavating another hole a few trees away. Pressing on; there was no time to lose.
Pressing on; sometimes it's hard but the alternative, failure, may be harder yet.
Here's a story: Young William Wilberforce was discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again: "Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might." (Daily Bread, June 16, 1989.)
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. You can have great talent and even a good measure of success; but these will never trump the ability to persevere. Some of the greatest thinkers that ever lived, without the ability to persist, found little market for their knowledge. Even though our colleges and schools continue to output many hundreds of thousands of scholars every year, without the ability or willingness to connect the dreams of knowledge with the motivator of perseverance, they will have gone to school for nothing. Persistence is the key to accomplishment. "Pressing on" may not always be comfortable, but it if you are in search of character, there is no other way.
We pray. Heavenly Father, Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. All the talent and even success can’t replace the ability to persevere under pressure. Forgive us Lord when we think that we can do things without bringing them to You first. Even though You have blessed us with skills, knowledge and understanding, without the ability or willingness to connect the dreams of knowledge with the motivator of perseverance, we will have learned for naught. Thank you for sending Your Spirit to provide us with persistence, the key to accomplishment. "Pressing on" may not always be comfortable, but it if you are in search of character Lord, there is no other way. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
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<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.