"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
Thomas Edison
Perseverance and persistence is always easier said than done and then when you do persevere, often to others confusion, you are more than likely to be called stubborn. Yet perseverance in spite of all obstacles, difficulties and all types of discouragements, however impossible it may seem, is what distinguishes the strong from the weak.
Nearly every man, woman and child who thinks of an idea and then works at it until they get up to the point where it looks impossible, will start to feel discouraged and want to stop. When in reality that is not the place to get down heartened and stop, if anything that is the place when you need to take a deep breath and carry on. Yet again, this is always easier said than done, so it is on these times when you ask for help, use the most reliable person to help you, ask God, with His help, to persevere should be easy.
For a while I have been thinking about writing this, I have had so many ideas and thoughts that have run through my mind, but I have been scared to formulate them.
I have always been the type of person that doesn't like failure, but then who does? But to fail for me is often to get a knife and to be stabbed, to be gutted, OK, maybe a little dramatic, but it hurts and it is always difficult for me to ever let go of it once I have failed. It doesn't take me that long to be thinking negative things, putting myself down and then entering a spiral of self hate, and hate of others. But I don't want to be that way. I want to be better, I want to be more Christ like, and most importantly I want to fight.
The difficulty we face is that failure is usually set in our minds early on in the task. We find it far easir to want to give up than persevere, I would assume because to perserve is to stand firm and work harder. If you are anything like me though the thoughts of giving up enter my mind quicker then the resolution to persist. I find it easier to hold on to the negative things people say to me or about me, rather than the good. So why on earth am I meditating on the bad rather than the good?
Yet with me the thought of failure captures me so easily. Even when I pray and ask God for help when I realise that I am thinking negatively (Most of the time I don't realise it until I'm deeper into the thoughts, thinking of anger, sadness even at times revenge) To save myself from this hurt I tend to only enter into activities, talks, discussions where I know or assume to know about the topic. Although many may see this as arrogance, my way of thinking is, if I know the topics then I have less chance of being wrong. Very egotistical I know, but actually all I am doing is safeguarding myself against being hurt by the embarrassment and then by the hurtful negativity my brain starts to think up.
So for me to start writing this was a challenge because I needed to cross a threshold that I was scared of crossing, an area where I could be setting myself up for failure.
The thought for this book came to me about two years ago when I was writing a post for my blog, (Which has eventually been turned and edited into one of the chapters) The concept of the Donkey started to fascinate me, and although I haven't done this mad study for all relevant Donkey related items in the last two years, God has shown me so much more, lots of which has helped me have a back ground knowledge, at least for me some very thought provoking points.
I think the hardest battle with this in general is the concept of a Donkey (especially when they are not even an animal I particularly think of when I think of an animal that I like)
But in some ways this whole project is exactly a Donkey.
One of my first thoughts of Donkeys is Eeyore, from A. A. Milne's stories of Winnie the Pooh.
Poor Eeyore, he has such a hard time, and things just never seem to go well for him. For those unaccustomed to Eeyore he is usually characterised as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, old, grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie the Pooh. When something bad happens in the Hundred Acre Woods you can usually bet that poor Eeyore is in the middle of it, looking sad and gloomy.( Apart from my own personal connections to Eeyore, I feel that this writing had been a bit like his existence.) The saddest thing of all though is where he lives, in the darkest, gloomiest and possibly the dirstiest part of A Hundred Ache Wood; The boggy swamp land. Amusingly to the Wnnie the Pooh francise we even read on the given map of A hundred Ache wood the reference for Eeyores house as "Eeyore's gloomy place, rather boggy and sad",
No wonder with all of this going on, that poor old Eeyore is gloomy and depressed and constantly having to build and rebuild his home made of sticks, if this is where he lives!
It is really easy to start something and not finish it, and it is usually the things that take the smallest of time or ease that becomes the most difficult. I am horrible at this. I personally hate the little things because they become the big things, just as I mentioned above a small negative thought for me can easily balloon into a large negative obsession rather than a good positive action or thought for God.
Even in everyday life it is the small things.
I wish I had a dish washer; it would make my life a lot easier. If the truth be told, what is a 2 minute activity turns into a 15 minute activity. Only on the pretence that I have made myself some toast and a cup of coffee, so that is, in washing up terms, a small plate, a cup, spoon and a knife (as I stated a 2 minute washing up task) Oh no, the thoughts that run through my mind are "well it wont take me long I'll put it on the side and do it later" then without me noticing the washing up acquired has multiplied! Then becoming a horrible chore!
Life can easily turn out of control and it is because of that, that we tend not to finish the things that we start. But I think Eeyore actually has the right frame of mind, Eeyore in truth is a prime example of many people in the world today. Apparently sad, gloomy, a little bit stuffed, but plodding a long to complete whatever task they are doing.
Allowing circumstances to take control of our lives and letting simple things quickly run away with us reminded me of the story of David. The David from the Bible that most people will recognise as the boy that defeated Goliath, or as the man that became King. At the time teh current king, King Saul was so annoyed with the Glory and attention that David seemed to be receiving that he tried many ways to get to him, to kill him, or even for him to be expelled from the city. He tried to kill David 6 times, David the Hero, was no longer a hero, he was now a fugitive and because of this his life quickly span out of control.
David soon gets the message and he kisses his wife goodbye and runs off. He didn’t dare run to his family for support, with the fear that they too might be hunted and killed. He really couldn’t seek refuge and hide within another city, as again being known as the great defender of King Saul and his people, he has more than likely got a price on his head and would be hated and even hunted there. He wondered and eventually he came a cross a church where he met a priest called Achimelech. The priests at this church would save their bread as an offering, set out for every Sabbath and a week later they would eat the bread. David, our hero, goes against his previous character and deceives Achimelech to get this sacred bread, stating that it was Royal command! Why lie? Why has our hero who clearly understood Gods love and power, suddenly turning against what he knew was right and right for God?
Sheer desperation has sunk in. He needs somewhere for sanctuary; he needs a place to eat.
David thought he wouldn't be under God's protection and he would die. The man that refused King Saul's armour to fight Goliath now picks up Goliath's sword from a priest. With the faith that David had, he fought and survived ten of thousands of battles, killing tens of thousands of men.
What could make us so desperate to lose focus?
I came to the conclusion that there is quite often so much pressure we have on this life that we fall under it. I know the pressure of trying to afford to live, trying to do the right thing, trying to be a parent and look after others. This is the pressure that makes us so desperate; this is the pressure that makes some people lie, cheat and steal. But, we need to remember that even at the darkest moments, God is our focus, turn to Him and ask for His help. David stumbled, but David stumbled into God. God provides us with nourishment and equips us to cope in life.
In Davids case he eventually escaped to the cave of Adullam
Even with the events that happened here David’s family, with their love, persevered and went to him; this would have been at great risk and betrayal to King Saul.
More importantly so did God.
He never gave up on David; he persevered, knowing that David would be great for his people. God sent men, who were seen as criminals by King Saul to David, where eventually he mounted an army of around 600 men and eventually they fought back.
Even when things are the most difficult and you feel that life is falling down around you and out of control, persevere. Others around you are persevering for you, even if you are aware of it or not. God is persevering for you, constantly wanting the best for you.
One of my all time favourite verses of scripture is from Philippians 4 verse 5.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
This verse, plus the story of David, reminds me to be a Donkey and in this back to the case of Eeyore, possibly seen as the most docile and gentle characters in the stories.
In most of the Winnie the Pooh adventures, Eeyore's house is always falling down. His house is very poorly made out of a few sticks. (I think if anything it is a very poorly made shelter, often with massive gaps throughout.) The important thing is that he doesn't give up, even to rebuild his stick house in the rather boggy and sad looking corner of Hundred Acre Woods. Donkeys have a notorious reputation for stubbornness, and I often think that if anyone ever tried to help Eeyore move into a nice warm brick house, he would stubbornly stand their and carry on building his stick shelter. Most think that the stubbornness has been attributed to a much stronger sense of "self preservation" than exhibited by horses; therefore it is more difficult to force or frighten a donkey into doing something it perceives to be dangerous for whatever reason. Yet I think the case of Eeyore is different here, I don't see it as being stubborn (of which I think is probably a poor illustration of Donkeys) but more a sense of perseverance. He is standing there in the darkest moments, darkest parts of the woods, feeling worn down, depressed and gloomy, yet what does he do? He bends down in all of the distraction around him and his life and picks up the fallen sticks and rebuilds his stick house. Eeyore is not allowng his surroundings to destroy the one thing has has left, he has faith to rebuild, even is at times he thinks it is a losing battle.
It is the principle behind the actions; he is not stubbornly rebuilding to prove a point. Eeyore has found a place that reflects who he is, and because of that he is persevering to survive there in his means.
However difficult things should get, I think we need to think about Eeyore and David, try to persevere through to finish what we have started, even when it is difficult and looks like stubbornness. If it was something worth doing then God will be there every step of the way supporting you in whatever it is. So hold on and pick up that next stick, even when your last attempt has fallen down, as it should never be seen as failure. Try and see it as it is written in the book of James. “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."
What are you doing, that reflects you? That reflects God? That you should honestly be thinking I need to pick up that next stick and carry on whatever.
