Golf, presidents and persistence ............. Parables 737

November 6, 2001

Despite the insistence from non-fans that the game of golf only “spoils a good walk,” I know why golfers enjoy their game and keep coming back. It’s that occasional perfect shot. I had a dream once in which I played a perfect golf game, finishing with a hole-in-one. I woke up laughing. Even though an occasional good shot gets me back on the course, in my case, perfection takes a lot more than dreaming.

My husband calls golf a “muscle memory” game. I say I have a bad memory. He says practice may not make me perfect but it would certainly help my game. So, I need to practice. Actually, if golf can teach me persistence, then this otherwise “spoiled good walk” has more value to it than I thought.

Persistence is an important commodity. History offers many examples. For instance, a family was forced out of their home when their son was seven. He had to work to help support them. His mother died two years later. At twenty-two, he lost his job. He wanted to go to law school but his education was insufficient so he went into debt to became a partner in a small business. Less than five years later, his business partner died and it took him years to repay the debt.

He courted a girl for four years but she turned down his marriage proposal. After trying three times, he was elected to Congress but failed to be re-elected two years later. Two years after that, his four-year-old son died. Four years later, he ran for the Senate and lost. In two years, he failed as candidate for vice-president, then two years after that failed to make the Senate again. Finally, at fifty-one, he was elected president of the United States. His name? Abraham Lincoln. He persisted and became part of American history.

God tells his people to also persist. When life gets rough, we are not only to keep trying, but the Bible says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1)

Aside from the “be joyful” part, God makes sense. We are not born with persistence. We need trials to learn and develop it. Without steep hills to climb or difficulties to overcome, our lives atrophy.

The Bible continues: “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Gems are polished with friction; we are perfected with trials. Notice that enduring under pressure is the mark of maturity. Obviously, those who endure must be well-grounded in their faith. They can handle whatever comes their way with courage and determination because they know that God is with them and He will help them through the trial.

Compared to the difficulties faced by Abraham Lincoln, being persistent in golf is a small challenge but big or small, whatever looms up before us can be seen as important to our character development and maturity. Rather than letting trials produce whining and retreat, we can let them produce growth in our lives.

So I’m working on the ability to stick to it, no matter what. Facing obstacles is a challenge but I try. As I do, I’m also noticing there is one other obstacle — when I see trouble coming, I’m not quite yet able to be joyful about it!

Patience ............................... Parables 051

Little children sometimes stamp their feet, pout, and demand, “Give it to me... right now!”

Bigger children are not much different. We moan, “Give me patience, and I need it... right now!” 

All sorts of things test our patience: unexpected changes and no changes, delays and head starts, intricate projects and boring projects, traffic snarls and long drives without any traffic, people who move too slow and people who move too fast. We become impatient with little people and big people, with ourselves, and sometimes with God.

Impatience is often related to weakness in some other area of life. The person who frets at the slowness of traffic may be guilty of poor time management. The mom who rages when her children keep interrupting may not have learned to give them proper attention so they don’t feel threatened by her occupation with other things. The intricate, involved project may be left undone, not because of impatience, but just plain laziness.

A dear woman of God related with a knowing chuckle, “Never pray for patience... the Bible says that God gives patience through tribulation, so if you ask for it, you will get nothing but problems...” She was right.

James 1 says, “the testing of your faith (through trials) produces patience,” so in spite of our thinking that trials make us impatient, we need to see them as having an entirely different purpose.

Through the trials of life, we learn to make choices. Behind any choice is some basic theology about ourselves and about God. If I believe that what I want is more important than whatever it is that is preventing me from having it, I will react with impatience. That choice is self-centered because my thinking focused on my own desires and purposes.

If I believe that God uses all things for good in my life, that He personally cares, that He is involved in what happens to me, that He has purpose in the delays and the difficulties, then I will choose patience. It is easier to endure a trial, waiting to see what its outcome will be if I concentrate on who controls it, and that He has a purpose for it.

Sometimes God’s purpose becomes key to a patient response. If we can learn the will of God for our lives, and co-operating with that will, patience is the result.

Patience it takes time, and trials, but as the saying goes, it is a definite virtue, far easier on ourselves, and everyone else, than fighting life, pouting, stamping our feet, and saying “I want it now!”