Driving home tonight I started thinking of the times in our 22 year marriage that stand out. Times that are memorable and special. A couple periods of time always come to mind.
#1: Our Texas Days. Tom took a traveling nurse assignment in Laredo, Texas. We loaded up Jake and Ben, and a small U-Haul, and headed out on an adventure to remember! We slept on a mattress on the floor with Jake in between us, while Ben learned to climb over his crib in the next room. We had four plates, four cups, and four bowls. A card table for our dining table, and one of the best times of our lives!
#2: Our Hill House Days. We moved into a two bedroom, one bath house in Decatur when Ben was two. We had an abundance of cats, raised chickens, and had a dog have her pups under our house…literally! Days filled with swinging Ben in a big tree swing, Jake wearing chore boots, and a hate-affair (by me) with mice! Looking back, the Hill House Days were sweet times.
But the last 10 years or so, it feels like Tom and I have kept our heads down and powered through. We’ve “kept on keeping on.” Work and home, raising boys and school. It seems like I just looked up and found my firstborn a high school Senior, my Benji a Sophomore, and my baby a sixth-grader.
Literally, that is how I feel. Where have the years gone? How did we get here? I recently found a quote that says “Motherhood: the days are long, but the years are short.” Truer words have never been spoken!
I guess it’s not a bad thing, this “keep on keeping on.” It can also be called “endurance” and “perseverance.” God calls us to it.
He calls us to it in our homes. In our marriages. Raising our children. He calls us to it in our work. Above all, he calls us to “keep on keeping on” in our walk with Him.
I looked up synonyms for persevere, and I can hear God calling out each one of these to us!
Carry on, go on, keep on, keep going, struggle on, hammer away, be persistent, be determined, keep at it, press on, stand one’s ground, stand firm, hold on, stay the course.
Philippians 3:13-14 is one of the great Christian statements of the Bible and a call to “keep on keeping on.” “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I PRESS ON, toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
And if we do “keep on keeping on,” if we do press on, if we do stand firm, Luke 21:19 is clear and simple. Our prize is guaranteed. “Stand firm and you WILL win life.” Truer words have never been spoken!