When a customer leaves Brad’s Auto Body (where I work), they receive a mug filled with cellophane -wrapped candy and Tootsie-pops.  I was prepping a few mugs today when I started musing about success and perseverance.  Is it enough for us to persevere?  Do we HAVE to succeed?

For the moment, put aside the question about how we define success.  That question will not get settled here.  For this discussion, I will define success as achieving the desired outcome to a person’s satisfaction.  For one student, success is just passing the test or may be even getting a “B” grade.  For another, success is onloy measured by how strong the “A” is on the same assignment.

I like succeeding at my work, at hobbies, and whatever else I do in life.  Over the last year, I went out on a number of interviews before landing a job prior to the one I hold now.  I did not succeed in all the interviews that led up to the first “yes.”  Sometimes I did not get an interview.  I did keep at the process until I got a (much needed) job.  Not succeeding was difficult.  Persevering was hard. 

A student I know is working hard to succeed in his classes.  He is not succeeding in one class because he is not getting the material.  It doesn’t help him that the teacher is not the best communicator.  He projects that he will not get a good grade in the class which will reflect on his GPA and affect where he goes to school.

This guy is working hard and has defined success as getting an “A.”  It does not seem that it will be enough to take the class, persevere and pass the class.

So I ask you to reflect with me.  Are we so success-driven that we cannot embrace or even enjoy perseverance, if even for a season?  I am asking myself this hard question as I feel I am in that kind of season.  I would love to here what you think.

You might be familiar with a book called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. It’s a book devoted to meditations on not worrying about the myriad of things we tend to stress over in life. It has spawned a number of other books, including a series by Bruce Bickle and Stan Janz called God is in the Small Stuff…and It All Matters.

Early last week, I began to stress over a potential life change I have no control over. Forgive me for not mentioning it in specific but that is part of the point of this post. Mind you, the change is no small thing and with no disrespect to the authors of the first title above, this is NOT small stuff.

As with most change, I feel stress. What is on the other side? Will my family and I be taken care of? Where is God in the midst of all this? All of these things I began to lift to my Father in heaven. IN the midst of those prayers, I was directed back to a familiar portion of Scripture in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Be anxious for NOTHING, but in ALL things by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7, emphasis added.

There are many things we stress over day to day and it’s small stuff. God invites us to give these to him through prayer. Somewhere along the way, I think I learned that the bigger the issue, the more right I had to be stressed and live in that stress. Go ahead, I reasoned, don’t sweat the small stuff. But if it’s big, then make sure you take the stress seriously!

What dawned on my conscious was that there is NOTHING I should be stressing over in a persistent manner. ANYTHING that would concern my heart should become a signal to seek my Father’s face.

As I have done this with the potential change, I have found His peace in the remembrance that I am his beloved and He will take care of us. He has not alleviated the circumstances nor made life easier. The situation is still unsettled at best. He has made me aware that HE is aware. How much more then should I sweat anything? As Jesus told us in his mountain top sermon, “Do not worry then …”

We just returned from Hartland Christian Camp, where the speaker reminded us that God has a Sabbath rest for us that we enter into only as we allow God to lay bare our souls before Him and His word (Hebrews 4). As we give up control and the things that control us, God gives us mercy. He reminds us that Jesus was tempted as we were in these same things and persevered without sinning. He knows our stress first hand and invites us to rest.

I am not claiming victory at this point. Along with this potential change is my concern for where life is going in the future. I do not feel like I have any say in the script as much as I would like to write it. What I do have is a new scripture focus for this season of life. Don’t stress ANY stuff, but learn to rest in the Lord. That rest comes with an exchange – give the Lord control over the script and He will keep my heart at rest. Give up my control and He will see to it we are cared for. Check back with me in a week or two to see how rested I am.

I met a friend for coffee recently where the conversation turned to blogging. He suggested I should blog more to help focus and publish my thoughts on discipleship and other things I am engaged in studying or teaching.

Such writing would be a discipline – focused, consistent, frequent. My experience of disciplined acts includes the quasi-pursuit of running and attempts at regular prayer and Bible reading. I can be focused at times, but consistency fails me. Frequency then falls close behind.

Yet I see the value of this pursuit so I am going to attempt it more often. As we contemplate spiritual practices at church, I can see this not only as a discipline but a spiritual practice. In the end, I hope it helps you and me both to pursue following Jesus with passion and obedience

For my part, I’ll write and get my thoughts out there for you to ponder. I will look forward to reading and interacting you’re your comments. Through this mode, may we all draw closer to Jesus.

For the time being, the focus will be on the discipline of writing – focused, consistent, and frequent. I will mostly write about discipleship, church life, and the books of Haggai-Zechariah around the theme of “when life is not the same anymore.”

So here’s to a new discipline. May it help us all grow towards Jesus and may those who stumble across this blog and those who look in regularly be encouraged and challenged.