Persistence.

Again, I'm encouraged by this book : Lord, Bless My Child.

It is not only guiding me as I pray for my boys, but it's showing me so very much about myself.

Key points that have spoken to me this week are:

{Be persistent in your pursuit of God. There is no greater challenge, no higher calling than to persist in the things of God.}

{Pressing through may require struggle - trying and failing, then trying again - but with the goal in mind, we can keep going.}

{We are not at our best perched at the summit; we are climbers, at our best when the way is steep.}

Mack started "climbing" this past week. Today, as I was putting some clothes in the closet I could hear him behind me. He was jabbering away and I assumed he was playing on the floor. I turned around and saw him sitting on the top shelf of my small bookcase with the biggest grin on his face that said, "Look at me mom!" He had climbed his way from a Rubbermaid tub to the shelf and managed to turn himself around. He was so very proud and beaming from ear to ear.

He was persistent and instead of just sitting there knowing he had done it, he wanted to get down and do it again and again.

Persistence.

It solves problems.

It formulates answers.

It makes the best better.

My prayer for my boys ... well ...

It's that the persistence I saw today in my sweet Mack and his desire to attempt the challenge again and again will be evident with each and every situation both he and Mason encounter.
It's {living} Hebrews 12:1-3 to the fullest extent.

from The Message:
"Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!"

Mack ...

Mason ...

You have both been born with persistence in your blood. May God use this important trait to make you more like Him.