Stick to it. Don’t give up. Never surrender. Inspiration’s words sound good for fights and messy trials. But to what, exactly, do we stick? The high goals defend the charge of stupidity easily enough—stand to the last man, repel the invader, or stay in the fire to rescue the doomed child. But what about living in politically crazed nowhere-bovia when safety’s country sits only a choice away? Why raise your children in diseased jungle obscurity when clean opportunity waits at the other end of an airline route? What answer comforts a slandered heart whose faith is labeled obstinate and blind?

What, in fact, distinguishes perseverance from stubbornness? Stubbornness clutches its throne and cries, “My way or the highway!” Perseverance, on the other hand, surrenders its throne. Stubbornness glorifies me. Perseverance glorifies Him. Stubbornness follows its own devices. Perseverance waits for His. Stubbornness controls. Perseverance yields. Stubbornness craves dominion, but love always perseveres.

Stubbornness and perseverance cannot co-exist. Forcing them to live together only makes a double-minded heart. Fortunately, retaining the very smallest of seeds, despite storms and naysayers, produces the largest crop.

So, what’s sprouting in your garden?

Luke 11:7-10; Acts 7:51-53; Matthew 10:22; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 5:36-39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; James 1:2-8