If we can learn to push through the resistance, we can reach and accomplish our goals.

It is easy to think up and set goals for ourselves.  It is even easy getting started with those goals.  But what happens when we have a major set back? What happens when we face insurmountable odds against us?  Too often we quit and give up.

Photo by Russell White

Did you ever sing the children’s nursery rhyme song, The Itsy, Bitsy Spider?

          The itsy bitsy spider went up the spider spout
          Down came the rain and washed the spider out,
          Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
          And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

This spider was “doing life” and had climbed pretty high up the spout.  All of a sudden, out of nowhere, came huge drops of water (catastrophes) and knocked it off its spider legs right to the ground. This spider did not give up just because it had been knocked to the ground. It was patient.  It was diligent, responsible, and disciplined.  Eventually the storm clouds rolled away.  The sun’s rays dried up all the dampness, and the spider crawled right back up his high spout again!

This is exactly what we have to do!  When we fall down from life’s heavy blows, we must get back up.  We have all heard this phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”  I remember hearing my mom or dad say this to me when I was growing up, and there were times that I just did not want to “try again.”  I was tired of “trying.”   I’ll bet you have felt like this, too.

Photo of Jeffrey Marcus

Did you ever wonder why the great lubricant WD-40 is called WD-40? Why 40? Why not 10 or 50 or 100? Forty stands for the number of times that it took to get the formula correct. The other thirty-nine times were a flop! What if Dr. Norm Larsen had quit trying on formula number twenty-eight? We all would not have a can of that great lubricant around our house!

Cowboys have a saying, “When a horse bucks you off, get up and get right back in the saddle.” As long as you do not quit, you are never a failure. When you fall down, do not nurse your wounds too much or too long because you might get stuck in the place of self-pity.

If we all want to see our potential as reality, then we must push through the resistance and pain that endures for the night to really complete what we set out to accomplish.  No matter what you are trying to accomplish – whether it is trying to become healthier by loosing weight and exercising, trying to hold a marriage together, or finishing that degree, we must keep on keeping on and push through to the end.

When we push through to our end goal, we must engage discipline.  Andy Andrews says it like this:  “Discipline is the ability to get yourself to do something you don’t want to do for the sake of an outcome you really want to get.”  It is always easy to be a great starter, but most times it is very difficult to be a great finisher.  We definitely have to practice the art of discipline if we want to reach our goals and reach our potential.  Notice that I said “practice” because we get better at being disciplined each time we push through the pain and the difficulty to get to the accomplishment that matters most to us.

Many times, I have reminded my son of the fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. Both the tortoise and the hare were running a race.  Each began at the same time.  The hare started out great!  He was miles ahead of the poor slow tortoise.  But… the hare got tired; he took a nap.  He lacked discipline and did not push through the hardship.  While the hare slept, the slow, consistent, disciplined pace of the tortoise won the race!  Each one of us can choose to either be like the hare or the tortoise when we are trying to reach our potential or end goal.

It is easier to quit than to keep going!  It is harder to keep going that to quit!

If we begin a pattern of quitting and giving up, we will never know what we are capable of doing or know what our full potential could be.  If we begin a pattern of quitting and giving up, we are setting a bad example for those whose lives we impact.  It is always better to lead by example than by words.

“If you always give up when a task is hard, your personal growth will eventually be stunted.”    Sabrina Hannon

When we are busy trying to accomplish our goals, life’s blows can be disappointing. Maybe you just realized that the wife you married really was not who you thought she was at all. Maybe the career that you thought would take you into retirement has dried up and you have no idea of what to do.  Disappointments that we face give us the opportunity to build our character when we push through to the end.  Disappointments that we face in life give us an opportunity to put God first in our life and ask Him to intervene in each disappointing situation that we face.

God is waiting for the opportunity to show us how great and mighty He is. He is waiting for us to allow Him to give us beauty for our ashes, dancing for our mourning. The Lord, the creator of heaven and earth wants you to know that there is nothing that is too hard for Him.  Jeremiah 32:27 says, “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” We serve a God of the impossible, and He wants us to believe in Him and in His infinite power for help, healing, financial prosperity, peace, joy, unfailing love, and salvation.

So, to recap:

• Discipline is built when you push through a hardship or something that you don’t want to do in order to reach the goal that you want to achieve.
• Character is grown when we discipline ourselves to reach the place of accomplishment on what matters most to us.   Our character is at stake when we come to the fork in the road where we have the choice to quit something or keep going and push through.
• We impact others when we give up and quit.  And, we impact others when we muster up all of the strength and courage that we can find deep within ourselves and we complete the goal that we set out to do.
• When we stretch ourselves to a place farther than we have gone before (and this can be in any area of our lives), we grow as a person in our abilities, our character development, and experiences.  The next time, we know we can at least go this same distance and perhaps a little beyond.  This is called personal growth.
• When you fall down, get back up!

So, next time when you are faced with a challenge, will you choose to be the hare, or will you choose to stay the course and keep putting one foot in front of the other until you reach the finish line like the tortoise?

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