Grit.

Just the word gets me going.  The concept of it, why we need it, and the difference it makes even prompted me to take up a paintbrush and capture what it might look like on canvas. 

 

Do you know anyone who possesses grit?  This guy does:

 "The only thing that is distinctly different about me is:  I'm not afraid to

    die on a treadmill.  I will not be outworked, period.  You might have more

    talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than

    me.  You might be all of those things.  You got it on me in nine                     categories. 

    But if we get on the treadmill together, there's two things:  You're           getting off first, or I'm going to die.  It's really that simple."1

 

Would you get off the treadmill first? 

 

Just spoke of seasons in our lives, as did Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3.         Link:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+3%3A1-8&a...

 

Fact is, we all need grit. 

In order to make our dreams come true . . . 

to dig deep, bear down and persevere in storms . . .

to be who we are meant to be in this great life.

 

Just read through Angela Duckworth's amazing book by the same name, Grit, and I highly recommend you get a copy and devour it for yourself.2  It has such great application for the Christ follower who wants to live on purpose. 

 

What would a gritty Christian look like?  He or she would:

            ->converse with God daily

            ->feast on his truth daily

            ->exercise, seven  . . . yep, daily

            ->consume food as fuel

            ->get quality sleep

            ->create

            ->gather with others

            ->play!

            ->never quit

            ->mentor someone

            ->Grow

 

Wanting to start a G.R.I.T. group in some fashion to spur each other on in life.  Thinking about how to do that - 'got any ideas for an international think-space forum?  Hit reply.

 

You know who was really gritty?  Paul.  My guy.  Really relate to him.  Once Paul was convinced that Jesus Christ was his Messiah, and that he should proclaim that truth to others, he regularly found himself in seasons of stress, strain, physical pain and imprisonment too. [don't know about you, but I am often battered by those first three, but so far, not the last, thankfully!]

 

Paul writes:

Our work as God's servants gets validated-or not-in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly ... in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;  ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;  immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

 

 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.  We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.  I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!  2 Corinthians 6.3-133

 

Two lines scream off the page to me, and call my name.

 

People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly

                                              and

Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! 

 

Sign me up, Paul. 

  ->I want to be gritty, to stay at my post - no matter what.   

  ->I want to live expansively out of God's glorious storehouses!

What say you?  Do you have grit?

 

 

1 - Will Smith, Grit Angela Duckworth

2 - buy two copies - one for yourself and one to give to a younger person

3 - what else?  The Message, of course!