I’ve been writing about my progress in golf, such as it is, as a function of:
Today, let’s consider Perseverance. After I purposed to improve my golf game and began to practice, mostly on the range, I’d have days when I thought, “It’s coming! Today I hit 50 balls and most of them were good hits!” Then I’d go out the next day and maybe only a third were good hits. At that point I realized:
Purpose and practice aren’t enough. I have to persevere even when there’s little apparent progress.
In fact, I told my friend and fellow golf struggler Tom that I considered my current experiment with golf as “an exercise in goal-setting and perseverance.” And so I stayed with it. I’d take another lesson where I’d usually realize that I wasn’t implementing the basics that my instructor had already tried to teach me. So back to the range. Back to thinking about what I was supposed to think about. Practice. Practice. Practice. And even after the “good” round that allowed me to write this series, I went out a week later and…one step forward, two steps back.
Isn’t life like that? I think my problem with anger is in the past until I’m around “certain people.” I’ve been faithful in my daily time with God and scripture memory, and I still have issues. “It” doesn’t work! That’s when it’s useful to recall our purpose, resume our training, and persevere.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (Hebrews 10.36, NIV)