Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Perseverance

Perseverance. It's on my mind today. It's only natural, since I have 8 days of school left before the break. The kids yawn through everything in the morning and are hyper through all of the afternoon work. Can't blame them. There is work to be done, but in the evening, all you want to do is sip hot cocoa, wrap gifts, hang out, sing Christmas songs, bake, go to Christmas parties, etc. Or just non-Christmas pulls - reading a good book, sleeping, being lazy. In the mornings, you are so tired from the evening before, it is challenging to persevere. Or maybe it's just me. This time of the year is an important time for me to reflect on perseverance. So, here are my thoughts, for what they are worth.

Due to the very nature of the word, perseverance is a topic worth considering again and again and again.
What am I to persevere in?
Tribulations
Hope
Obedience
Spiritual Disciplines
Joy
Evangelism
Prayer
Belief in the Gospel
Love for God
Love for others
Giving
Excellence in responsibilities
Grading
Dishes


And then, my mind shifts to things I'm not supposed to persevere in:
Sin (covers it all, huh?)
Laziness
Ungratefulness
Apathy
Discontentment
Grumbling
Etc.

What are your lists?
Persevere.

The Blessing of Perseverance

James 1:25
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

James 5:11
As you know, we consider 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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good morning sweet daughter-in-love! Your blog really spoke to me today, so I shared it with part of the faculty, hope you don't mind, but I think it will be helpful to many of them! How did you get so wise? Love you!

Jamie Butts said...

Don't mind at all sweet Mom Butts. :)

I'm not sure about being wise, because I don't apply the things I know so well. BUT, the Lord is gracious and I suppose that's part of sanctification... growing, in baby steps, to be more and more like Christ, and less and less like our natural selves without Him.

Praying for much perseverance today! Can't wait to see ya'll!

sarahdodson said...

Thanks for the post, Jamie! I'm working on perseverance with disciplining our sweet daughter. And soon I hope to start the potty training. From what I hear/know, I'll need LOTS of patience! SO thankful that the Lord is patient with HIS children:)