Endurance

“Do not ask to walk smooth paths,

nor bear an easy load.

But pray for strength and fortitude,

to walk the rock strewn road.

May Jehovah give you courage,

remember you are not alone.

And transform every stumbling block,

into a stepping-stone.”

I was thinking about this quote as I visited this week with 2 elderly sisters. Their lives have been very different. One had a life focused on full-time service as a pioneer, and traveling with her husband in the Circuit work. The other served faithfully as a congregation publisher while raising a family with her husband.

The life choices that they made may be very different, but their faithful endurance is the same. Each has built up a record of faithful, whole-hearted service to Jehovah, are deeply loved and appreciated by their brothers and sisters and continues to be a source of strength and encouragement to everyone privileged to know them.

The word endurance takes on concrete meaning for me as I look at their lives. Each one is now dealing with the vagaries of old age… gracefully and uncomplainingly.

The “rock strewn road” is a little easier for me to travel with them leading the way.