At all times and all levels during life, we are called to endure.
During this test on earth, we get everything but the “kitchen sink” thrown at us.
We have trials, tribulations. Some are gigantic. Many are unexpected.
At each turn in life, there is the chance of challenge, great struggle, of agonies that bring us closer to the Cross.
What the Lord requires comes down to that word “endure”: Besides the obvious — looking at what Our Lord Himself endured — there are the examples of endless saints, starting with the apostles. They endured rejection. They endured division. They endured insult, with love. They endured strenuous travel. They endured raw weather, hot and cold alike. Injury. They endured martyrdom. (Our first pope, Peter, was hung upside-down.)
The point: they endured to the end.
What does the word “endure” mean? To hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding; undergo: to endure great financial pressures with equanimity, to bear without resistance or with patience; tolerate; persist. Turn the other cheek.
It brings up two passages from Scripture:
“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
Also, there is the word “persist.” Persist and you defeat evil. Resist the devil with persistence and he will flee (James 4:7).
And so it is. Other translations have Paul referring to finishing the “race.” Life is that: a race against evil, temptation, and time. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
It is a steady strong determined pace that finishes the marathon called “life” and endures across all landscapes and terrain. Just be steady. Be dedicated. Love adversity, offered up. Be balanced. Don’t stop to be distracted by the world. Keep your eyes always on the final reward, your eternal destination.
Endure. Perdure. Let the challenges of earth cause you strength. “What does not kill me makes me stronger.”
Resistance builds muscle.
And stone.
Be with the Rock of Peter. Have the strength at every turn to just hold up a light. Love beyond insult. This makes you also a disciple.
That’s all. Keep moving and simply hold up His Light. Just move forward and hold up a light in the darkness.
[resources: A Life of Blessings]
