Don't Give Up. Persevere!

The boys came to visit on Saturday. When I got home from class, they were there. We had a good time hanging out. Playing games together, laughing, and talking. My dad made the boys laugh so hard while we played Crazy Bridge (our family card game) that all they doubled over in hysterics. I laughed, too. But what made me laugh the most was my oldest nephew trying to convince everyone that one could grow out of an allergy if he simply exposed himself to it long enough.

H: “You can’t grow out of an allergy, J.”
J: “Yes you can. Remember when I had a shrimp allergy? I decided to attack it head on. I pushed through. I persevered. And now I can eat shrimp without getting sick!”
H: “You were never allergic to shrimp.”
J: “Yes I was. But I worked hard. I didn’t give up. And you’re not going to give up either. So here’s my new training regiment for you. You’re going to take off your shirt and roll around in the grass for 10 minutes a day. Then pretty soon you’ll be over your grass allergy.”

A little while later, while the boys were playing a game of football that they invented during the NC State game that our Wolfpack lost miserably, my youngest nephew found himself tackled on the floor. Giggling happily, he said, “I’m working on overcoming my allergy to Bullet!”

*I smile*

I think Jack may have been a little misguided in his advice to his younger brothers. Granted, we were all laughing during his declaration of perseverance and his prescription for H overcoming his grass allergy, yet his words really stuck with me: “I pushed through. I kept going. I didn’t give up. I persevered.”

This afternoon, in between school and school, I was really tired. As I sat at my little desk in the little hut where I’m a Monday guest, I wanted to do nothing more than, well, nothing. But then I heard my nephew say, “I pushed through. I kept going. I didn’t give up. I persevered.”

So…I sat at my little desk in the little hut where I’m a Monday guest, I got out my Willard, and I worked. And the longer I worked, the less tired and more content I became…because I was accomplishing tasks on the never-ending to do list.

There is a time for rest. I try hard to carve out a weekly day of Sabbath and to include daily activities that give me life.
There are times to surrender. Sometimes it’s best to let go of something we like or an idea that we think is wonderful—especially if it just keeps making us sick—like shrimp or grass or mushrooms.
But there are also times to work—to use the minutes given to us to produce something bigger than ourselves.

J may have spoken his words of perseverance facetiously on Saturday night, but somehow I think he knows what they truly mean. And I pray, oh do I pray, that he—and my other nephews—and niece—and students—and you, friends—will do just what he said when the going gets rough but there is success on the other side:

Push through.
Keep going.
Don’t give up.
Persevere.
Succeed.
Eat shrimp.
Roll in the grass.
Celebrate!
Then pat yourself on the back—
albeit itchy from trying—
and rest in the successful peace of a job well done.