How Stubborn Are You?

Dan and I took a 6-week road trip through Canada and up into Alaska a couple years ago. Near one of our campsites on a beautiful bay surrounded by blue mountains, we came across this baby tree growing out of an old stump.

This little guy will probably not survive long-term. Because there’s limited space for him to grow. And his roots aren’t sunk deep into rich soil. He’s stuck in a tree stump.

But don’t you love his tenacity? Despite the odds against him, he sends his beautiful green branches toward the light.

So here’s the thing: The odds of living a long life here on this broken planet are against each one of us. Unless we’re a follower of Jesus Christ and are still alive when he returns to this earth (what we believers refer to as the Second Coming) then we’re going to die.

But until then, how might we choose to live?

Here’s one of my favorite words that I think answers the question well: Tenaciously.

Tenacity is ‘resolve, persistence, determination, stubbornness.’

I resolve to live full out, to persist even when the thing doesn’t look possible, determined to honor God in my work.

And then there’s stubbornness, which I come by quite honestly. From both my parents.

My mom went to college at a time when not many women pursued higher education. She had a career, which she didn’t love, but after she retired, she went back to college and earned an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. She would have opened a daycare center if my dad had been on board.

She was one determined woman. My brothers and I grew up hearing, “You can be anything God wants you to be.” And I believed it.

When it was my turn to be a mom—during a season when women were encouraged to attend college and climb corporate ladders—I wanted to stay at home with my kiddos. I didn’t want someone else to rear them. As they grew older and more independent, I was able to do non-profit work that I enjoyed.

And now I spend my days writing. With tenacity. Because statistics would say I’m too old, it’s too late, I don’t have a large enough platform to see a book published. But I’m foolishly pressing forward because … well, you know … the stubbornness that was passed down to me.

Maybe that small evergreen tree growing out of the stump in Alaska didn’t reach his full potential. But he found himself planted in a place that wasn’t necessarily healthy, and he grew in beauty anyway. He reached for the light anyway.

What is it you want to accomplish while you still have life and breath? What lights you up?

Are you a retired teacher who would love to encourage a homeschool mom by offering to teach a particular subject? Have you always wished you could go back to college to become a nurse? To be the one in your neighborhood who plans neighborly activities a couple times a year? Listen to second graders read? Knit newborn caps and donate them to the hospital? Volunteer at Shepherd’s House, Family Kitchen, or Furnish Hope? Or be the one who everyone calls when they have a prayer need?

If it were God who engraved the vision upon your heart, then he’s responsible to get you to where you need to be, to give you the creativity and energy and resources you’ll need to operate in that place.

How stubborn are you? I hope you’re stubborn enough to live tenaciously—to reach toward the light and achieve what your Creator designed you to do.