Patient Endurance

The start of a new year can be a time of renewal and great excitement. As New Years day becomes more distant and the days of the new year pass by, discouragement can soon take the place of excitement. Why is this? Why is it that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February?

Over the past few weeks exhaustion and discouragement have waged war against my motivation to accomplish the goals I have for this year. Unwilling to allow my resolutions to become a part of the 80% that fail by February, I started meditating on what the source of my exhaustion and discouragement is. Thus far, I’ve come upon the following culprit: impatience. All resolutions and goals are wonderful and exciting as we are writing them. We imagine ourselves when the goal is achieved…the book is written, weight lost, and mountain climbed. Wow! We’ll really be our best self then. We’ll truly be unstoppable when we achieve these resolutions. I mean, the vision board to accompany the resolutions is so colorful and brilliant, surely our life will look the same at the end of the year. The challenge arises when we begin to take action toward the achievement of the resolutions we’ve set: we write the first few pages of the book and then hit writers block. Or, we go to a boot camp class at the gym and then have to sleep on the futon in the living room for a few days because we’re unable to lift our legs to walk up the stairs. Whatever the resolution, challenges are inevitable. The difference between those whose resolutions remain strong through January into February and those whose do not is endurance, more specifically patient endurance.

The Bible explains the purpose behind this in Hebrews: you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is PROMISED (Hebrews 10:36). We make many promises—to both ourselves and others—but many do not have the patient endurance necessary to actualize the promises made. If you have fallen victim to this even just once before, don’t be discouraged! Instead, join the rest of us, because we all have our experience with failure. The important thing is to learn from past mistakes to ensure your future produces different outcomes. How can this be done?

Since realizing that impatience was my kryptonite and patient endurance it’s remedy, I’ve made patient endurance a goal in and of itself. I recognize that the actualization of some goals will extend beyond this single calendar year into the next or even many years from now, so I’m making patient endurance a continuous goal for the rest of my life. As indicated in the scripture, patience endurance is the prerequisite for receiving and enjoying any resolution or goal. The benefit of making “patient endurance” a goal is that this goal can be achieved in its entirety every day. If you patiently endure something for even just one hour, you’re achieving the goal and coming closer to achieving every other goal you set.

We have all heard the saying “patience is virtue.” Well, before it can become a virtue you must first make it a goal. This goal has so many win-wins that you will just have to test it to see for yourself. Lack of motivation will come. Discouragement will come. But don’t just welcome them open arms, allowing them to sabotage your resolutions and aspirations without any push back. Cultivate patient endurance and you’ll not only be better equipped to maintain your resolutions into February but you’ll be equipped to fulfill them for a life time!

Key Scripture

35 Do not, therefore, fling away your [fearless] confidence, for it has a glorious and great reward. 36 For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is PROMISED.

Hebrews 10:35-36

INSPIRATION

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting.” — Joyce Meyer

“Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they.”— Leonardo da Vinci

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”— Napolean Hill

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”— Samuel Johnson

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” — St. Augustine