Life does, in fact, go uphill both ways
You can tell you’re getting old when you watch a group of teenagers walk by wearing clothes that are a stylistic match with those hanging in the back of your closet.
In fact, I recall wearing some of today’s styles in not just one but two different eras of my life.
It goes to prove the claim of the ancient Wisdom writer who said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
That ancient principle revolved in the back of my mind as I recently dove into the excellent book by Angela Duckworth titled “Grit.”
It had been highly recommended by a friend and I devoured it. The essence of the book, my words not hers, is that tenacity trumps talent 10 times out of 10. She says that talent accompanied by tenacious effort leads to skill and skill accompanied by tenacious effort ultimately leads to achievement.
The obstacle interrupting the path to achievement in most of our lives is the tenacious effort part. From some fairytale source, we have come to expect that if we’re talented enough and if we are following the correct path for our lives, the road should be relatively smooth and even easy.
Consequently, when turmoil and obstacles show up, rather than tenaciously persist through them, it is typical to question if we’re on the right path.
Duckworth’s initial work came from an attempt to analyze why such a significant number of high-achieving, carefully selected recruits washed out of the United States Military Academy at West Point. They were the creme de la creme who desperately wanted to be there, so why would they quit?
After all the data was evaluated, it concluded the determining factor in success or failure was not the ability of the cadets but their grit.
What do her findings have to do with recurring clothing styles? Everything.
Almost 2,000 years ago, two different authors of Scripture reached the same conclusion. James, the brother of Jesus wrote: “Consider it a sheer gift friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work, so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. If you bail too quickly, you will rob yourself of what might be a phenomenal growth opportunity.
St. Paul put it even more bluntly: “Not only so, but we glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope.”
Am I suggesting we go looking for hard times? Absolutely not. However, I am agreeing with more than 2,000 years of wisdom, both Bible wisdom and current psychological research that suggests that persevering through hard times is good for us.
I have a well-founded suspicion that a good percentage of all who are reading this column are facing significant obstacles, today.
The natural, human tendency will be to bail. I’m writing to encourage you to hang in there. By God’s grace and your grit, if you persist through your challenge, you will emerge out the other side a more fully developed person, ready to take on the next leg of life’s journey.
Tim Schroeder is a pastor at Trinity Baptist Church.