Last fall my family had the opportunity to go to The Storied Family Camp hosted by Justin and JL Gerhardt. The camp was designed to help your family discover your collective identity and strengths through the power of story.
One of the weekend’s challenges was sharing stories of a time your family did something hard.
One that sprang to mind was the time when God told my husband and me that it was time to move from our house of nine years with a two year old and a newborn. We were young and hadn’t completed any updates on the house, so we jumped in with the help of our small group to complete nine year’s worth of work in three months. Yes, we did.
I’ve never been so tired in my entire life. I still remember late nights painting walls and trim after I nursed my baby and laid him down to sleep. We packed endless boxes between diaper changes and nap times. We persevered through the messy mundane middle.
Then we packed up the final truck, placed our for sale sign in the yard, and moved our little family. I forgot to mention that this was during the housing crisis. There was little hope our house would sell quickly for the amount we needed, but we clearly needed to move and follow God’s leading for my husband’s job, so we did.
God sold the house in 24 hrs for the exact price that we needed.
This story constantly reminds our family to persevere and follow God’s leading when the nights are long and the middle is tough. After recounting this story and several others during the Storied Family camp, our family decided on the words “persistence” and “perseverance” to describe how our family fights our battles.
The Gerhardt’s gave us a foam sword to write those words on as a reminder to dig in and keep going when things get tough. That sword is on the wall of our sunroom reminding us of the stories we told and that with God we are equipped to continue when the middle is hard and mundane.
So much of life is lived in the mundane middle. The beginning is often filled with excitement and anticipation, the end with celebration and fireworks, but the middle can be a desert. Boring. Dry. Endless.
Pick up a copy of our newest prayer journal, Everyday Prayers for Faith: Find Confidence in God No Matter What
As I help my kids stay faithful in the middle I point them to verses like Galatians 6:9:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
And Isaiah 40:31:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Though this verse is well worn, when you read it in context, the chapter leading up to it is a reminder of Who our Lord is. His identity. So when Isaiah tells us to “hope in the Lord,” he has already told them starting in verse 10, “Here is your God…” and spends the next nineteen verses listing God’s character traits.
When our kids are tempted to give up and complain in the middle of the process, we can gently remind them that what they’re doing whether it be school, a project, or a sport the middle can be hard, but we can work with God’s strength for God and persevere in the mundane middle.
Let’s Pray…
Father, the middle is hard. Like the beginning of the year, it is often lifeless and an endless stretch of nothing. Please help us to look to you and your strength, to persevere and keep going, especially when we want to give up. Thank you for your promise that a reward is waiting in the end. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
