"Stickability"

I was passing by a lady's house, about 4.5 miles from mine.  I had to stop because she was backing out from her driveway and I couldn’t go anywhere without risking getting hit.  She lets down her window and says, "I’m so proud of you.  I’ve been watching you for years and I’m so proud of you for what you are doing".  She doesn’t know that I’m a father and that I’m a grandfather. She does not know that I am a pastor of 36 years. She does not know that I’m a business man, yet she says, "I’m proud of you".  I’m assuming that what she is proud of in me is that I continue to stick to my morning routine in exercise. Here’s a woman that I have never known who takes the time out to tell me this.  What does it mean?  Has she wanted to be one who works out and has not been?  Is she getting encouragement from someone who has “stickability” (my word for it). 

It is interesting how people who may cross your path and that you may never know are getting strength from watching you stick to what you are supposed to stick to (and this is not about exercise).  My words to all of my friends is don’t give up.   Don’t give up on your marriage.  Don’t give up on your hope of finding gainful employment.  Don’t give up on your hope of getting married.  Don’t give up on your walk with God.  Don’t give up on being a person of integrity.  Don’t give up on being a friend in deed even when your friendship has been taken advantage of.  Somebody is watching you.  Stick to it.  I know that it gets tough sometimes, but the life that you save just may be your own.  

I have come to realize that it is never just about me, but it is about the people that God has set me in the middle of.  There is a scripture in the book of Romans that says,  "but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans 5: 3-5).