Patience Over the Long Haul: Learning to Endure

Posted on May 19, 2020 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Joni Eareckson Tada

It’s a few weeks till summer, but already the corn is growing tall and green, stalks rustling in the breeze. A field of ripening corn is a glorious sight on a fine sunny day. I rediscovered this recently as my husband Ken and I drove along a straight country road from St. Louis to Chicago.

At the beginning of our journey I glanced out the window and remarked, “Look at that beautiful cornfield, Ken. It stretches as far as the eye can see.” Fifty miles later, and at least double that number of farms, the long road and the fields of corn seemed to go on forever. After a hundred miles of endless cornfields, I shook my head and exclaimed, “We’ve been on this road for ages. Look around us—who in the world eats all this corn?”

Failing to look on the bright side happens whenever we find ourselves on an interminable, straight stretch in the same direction. No matter if it’s a road, a two-hour lecture, or a line that snakes for blocks, it’s hard not to become weary. It’s also easy to ignore, or even forget, all the good fruit and rich grain that’s being produced along the way.

Someone once said that the challenge of living is to develop a long obedience in the same direction. When it’s demanded, we can rise on occasion and be patient…as long as there are limits. But we balk when patience is required over a long haul. We don’t much like endurance.

If only we could open our spiritual eyes to see the fields of grain we’re planting, growing, and reaping along the way. That’s what happens when we endure. Even the four decades I’ve lived in a wheelchair is, in a way, like driving on a long, straight road through miles and miles of cornfields—I have to keep reminding myself of the harvest of righteousness being produced in my life. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time…later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Right now, you may be in the middle of a long stretch of the same old routine. The beginning of your Christian life was exhilarating. Your spiritual adrenaline was pumped up. But now there are miles behind you and miles to go. You don’t hear any cheers or applause. The days run together—and so do the weeks. Your commitment to keep putting one foot in front of the other is starting to falter.

Take a moment and look at the fruit. Perseverance. Determination. Fortitude. Patience.

Your life is not a boring stretch of highway. It’s a straight line to heaven. And just look at the fields ripening along the way. Look at the tenacity and endurance. Look at the grains of righteousness. You’ll have quite a crop at harvest…so don’t give up!