Summer is a season for “keeping on.”
You could say that about winter, too, but right now we’re trying to cope with heat and humidity, and “keeping on” is a matter of enduring long, soggy days that never seem to cool off or dry out, and longing for the crisp, clear days of autumn.
Enduring is the word I’m looking for, and the quality of character I’m trying to cultivate.
It’s not easy.
But then, keeping on is never easy, is it?
It’s difficult to keep on doing what is right when hardly anyone seems to notice. It’s difficult to keep on doing what is just when it puts me at some kind of disadvantage. It’s difficult to keep on doing what I know I should do when I’m tired and there’s no end in sight.
Endurance is difficult.
It’s difficult because endurance is often a long stretch of self-denial. One definition of “endurance” is “the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions.”
It’s those “adverse conditions” that make endurance difficult.
In his book Plan B, Pete Wilson writes, “I’ve found it’s much easier to fall into temptation when our needs are not being met. When we feel as if God has abandoned us, why not just go ahead and abandon him?”
And often, the temptation is to just quit trying and “go with the flow.”
But Scripture tells us “ . . . God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5b).
Our feelings might deceive us into believing that God has abandoned us, but the truth is He has not.
The truth is that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1).
Not only is God ever-present, He is also our refuge. He is our strength. And refuge and strength come in pretty handy when we are trying to endure.
Turning to God in a tedious, trying season sounds like the best way to keep on keeping on.
Especially in the heat and humidity of a long, hot summer.