Perseverance is a Premium
Do you ever feel like you get close to your goal, but all of a sudden external forces seem to always work against your progress? One step forward, positive intentions, a good report, a necessary conversation - but the result is a setback? What do you do in those moments? What’s your mindset? We all have these pivotal moments in our lives, but what separates those that ultimately achieve the thing? I wanna talk about perseverance for a moment.
I was playing golf earlier this week, and couldn’t find a more perfect example for what’s been on my mind lately. Golf and life have so many parallels. I find myself playing the game with such intentionality that I can transfer some skills I use there in other aspects of my life. Golf is about getting the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes possible, so the lower the score the better. Par is scoring the appropriate number of strokes for the hole, a birdie is -1, a bogey is +1, and double bogey is +2 strokes over the par.
On this particular round I was feeling pretty confident I’d play well. I had played a lot of golf the day prior and didn’t feel like I needed to stretch my body much. The weather was also temperate and not windy, so the course conditions favored a good round. (For the real golfers, in this round and group I played with, I played with a breakfast ball and 2 mulligans on each 9.) I step on the first tee and hit my first shot out of bounds. Not a great start, but I knew I just needed to warm up. I make a bogey. Second hole I hit my tee shot out of bounds. Made a double bogey. I step up to thee fourth hole, a 135-yard par 3, and my tee shot is 2 yards short of the green and falls into a sand trap. After that shot I remember walking to my cart and saying “what can go wrong today will go wrong.” I am hitting the ball so weird. I’m not feeling like myself. But I knew I was close to turning my round around if I could just stop the bleeding. I start my first 5 holes at +6. Not great. At this point I had conceded in my mind that I was going to shoot in the 90s. Not horrible for how much I play, but not good.
What happened next is really where I want to spend most of my time. I didn’t panic. I understood that I had been in this specific situation before. I have been playing golf for 15 years. I have played in competitive tournaments throughout junior high and high school. I know what the internal pressure to play well in a competitive environment feels like. I could have easily conceded the round and said in my head “Man, I just don’t have today. I’ll just accept this 94 i’m about to shoot and not try anymore.” I stopped thinking about my overall 18 hole score, and instead started focusing on one shot at a time. I reminded myself that every shot counts. If I could take my time and try to minimize the amount of strokes I need to make, I could still turn in a decent score. I didn’t look at the scoreboard on my phone and see how my other friends were playing. Their score, good or bad, had no effect on how I played. I made a par on hole 7, a par on hole 8, and a birdie on hole 9. I finished the front nine at +5 with a 41. That could easily have been a 47 / 48. I kept that same energy on the back and shot a 37, with an 18-hole score of 78.
Enough about golf. I understand the golf story and analogy might not resonate with everyone. What am I getting at? I focused on three things during that round to salvage the day and make a decent score.
Step Back - Understand you’ve been there before
Stay Balanced - Understand one bad thing doesn’t automatically ruin the entire rest of your day
Stay in your lane - Do not focus on what others are doing around you
I look at my round of golf and can’t help but see how life looks like that for me often. I wake up with the best intentions - I read my Bible and I talk to God - and then I get some crazy text message that attempts to throw off my day and ruin my peace. Or I create boundaries for myself to avoid certain temptations and boom - evil is on every side as Paul said in Romans 7:21: “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Just like a bad shot on the golf course, when bad stuff happens in my daily life, I have to remember to step back and realize this is not the first time I’ve had a situation like this. I can’t freak out and lose my composure because something out of my control happened. I’ve got to persevere and make it through the day. Jesus says in John 16:33 - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” When I remember this, I can have a polished perspective. I can understand that I fight each day from a posture of victory. Since Jesus has overcome the world, we realize in the end we win. This truly helps me stay balanced and not take the bad breaks in life out of context. Things happen - life isn’t perfect. If we change our perspective to an attitude of perseverance, we can take the blows of life in stride as we continue to strive toward our destiny. Philippians 3:13-14 - “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: 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.” I press and I persevere because I know what I’m called to is greater than what I am going through.
Lastly, I stay in my lane. When I am having a bad day at the course, the last thing I should do is live comparatively. I can’t look at my playing partner’s score and be upset I’m not playing as well as them. What they do has no effect on what I do. I’ve heard it said that comparison is the thief of joy. I believe there’s some truth in that. So translate that to life. What do we know? We know we’re going to have trials. We also know something happens when we persevere. The Bible tells us in James 1:12: “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”
I close with this. Life is tough. We are going to run up against opposition. But Jesus promises to be with us! To the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). (On my next blog I may talk more about this verse… I have a really cool story about this one.) My verse of the day today feels like the appropriate closer. 1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
You’re never alone. Stay strong. Persevere. Hang on to Jesus.
Be Blessed!
Glenn