Perseverance

per-se-ver-ance [pur-suh-veer-uhns]

-noun

1. the act of persevering; continued, patient effort
2. the quality of one who perseveres; persistence

3. steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.

We have a bird feeder directly in front of our living room windows, about ten feet away. The kids love to watch the birds come and go, and I try to make sure it's always well-stocked with birdseed. When we purchased the feeder, I made sure to get one of the more expensive, "squirrel-proof" models, because we do have quite a few of the furry critters out here and I didn't want them stealing all the seed. Also, we have lots of those giant horse-sized birds that would probably chase away all the smaller, prettier ones if they discovered they could get to the food.

About a month ago, I noticed that there weren't many birds visiting the feeder, but the seed level was still dropping pretty steadily. One morning, Ethan called me into the living room to show me something. "Look, Mama! There's a squirrel on the bird feeder!!" Sure enough, there was a fat, fluffy-tailed creature doing a balancing act and trying to get the seed out of the little holes in the feeder. We watched it for a while, and it seemed like the poor thing was never going to give up! Finally, it ran up into the tree and stared at the feeder with contempt.

We've seen our little friend multiple times over the past few weeks. Just this morning, I walked by the window and noticed that there was a furry tail dangling from one side of the feeder. I grabbed my camera and big zoom lens, and was able to snap a few pictures before the squirrel took off, raced up into a tree and fussed at me from an overhanging branch. Upon closer inspection of the pictures, I realized that my "squirrel-proof" bird feeder is no longer doing its job properly. Our little buddy somehow managed to find a way to attach to the feeder without causing the little open feeding areas to close up. The spring system on the feeder is supposed to be weight-based, and a creature that's heavier than, say, a cardinal is not supposed to be able to get any of the seed out. Somehow, after days and days of plotting and practicing, this squirrel figured out a way to trick the feeder. See for yourself...

Why am I blogging about a stupid squirrel? Well, it made me think. There's a life lesson here for all of us. You don't think so?

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a problem? I don't even have to wait to hear the answer to that. We ALL have problems...lots of them sometimes. Those of us who are Christians are never promised that life is going to be easy. In fact, the Bible tells us that we're going to be tested and we're going to experience difficulties, but that we should face them with a positive attitude (James 1:2). That is SO hard (well, for me, anyway). Every little (or huge) thing we go through takes a lot out of us, and sometimes we don't even want to get up and face each day.

There is a reward for us, though! Several, actually. Each trial we face has the potential for strengthening our relationship with God, depending on how we choose to handle the situation. We can let our frustrations overtake us, give in to our human nature and try to change/control it by ourselves, or we can realize that God is bigger than we are (and the problem) and give it to Him. Prayer and humility = a closer walk with God. Hebrews 10:36 tells us that we need to persevere so that when we have "done the will of God," we will "receive what he has promised."

What else do we have to look forward to? How about maturity? That's a good thing, right?

"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

- James 1:4

"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

- Romans 5:3-4

Character...that's a big one. And hope is always a good thing.

As I said before, God never promised that our lives as Christians would be easy (big, fat bummer). We are targets for persecution, especially today. Putting all that aside, though, life is just hard sometimes. People are, by nature, evil, and sometimes I think we exist just to frustrate others. I know I'm a frustrating person! Just ask my husband! :) Christians are called to a higher standard, and the world is watching us, just waiting for us to screw up. Therefore,

"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." - Hebrews 12:1  

And just wait until we get to the finish line! WooHoo!!

Let's keep it together, because we have an audience. When it's all said and done, we want them to be saying, "Wow! How can they be so strong and faithful when everything's falling apart? Whatever they've got, I need it!!" What an incredible witness!

So, again...I'm looking at our little squirrel friend. Fuzzy had a problem, and instead of giving up after a few failed attempts and retreating to a tree branch to whine about how unfair life truly is, the little ball of fur kept trying. His ultimate reward: FOOD! 

Perseverance. I think the squirrel definitely has the right idea.