Going the Distance

This week I had the privilege of watching my grandchildren for a few days.  I wanted to come up with a project to keep them busy so I had them make a puppet theater out of a cardboard box.  My job was the curtains while the kids came up with a script, made paper puppets, props, the crayoned scenery, and 25-cent admissions tickets, as well as the concession stand tickets for 5-cent bowls of popcorn and banana pudding. Of course we did other things too, like play games and swim and watch Disney’s Mary Poppins, but a good deal of time was spent on getting ready for the “big show.”

The kids were excited and busy at their task for the first two days, but by day three they had had enough.  It took some gentle prodding to get them to finish, but they reaped great rewards when their parents came home!  Oh, the excitement then!  The camera snapping, the hugs, the numerous exclamations! And by the look on my grandchildren’s faces, I knew they were glad they had seen the project through.

I came away thinking that in many ways I react the same way when God assigns me a “project” or has me go through something that requires a good deal of effort on my part. At first I’m determined, perhaps even excited that I will encounter God in a new and deeper way.  Then tedium sets in.  I weary of the task.  I yearn to return to that which is easier or more familiar, and all the while there is God prodding me on. And the end is always the same.  If I persevere I reap the rewards—I feel God’s pleasure.

I know at times we all become weary of well doing but the Bible says that we will reap in due season if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).  And that’s worth going the distance.

Until next week,

Sylvia