“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” — John 12:24 KJV.
We are in a festive time of year — with Thanksgiving and Christmas past and the New Year rapidly approaching. As we have celebrated the harvest season, we have been reminded of the cycle of the harvest — the death of the planted seed, the resurrection of the seed as a plant,
and the death of that plant so it can give life to those consuming the harvest. As we watch our favorite Christmas movies, we see the picture-perfect dreams of beloved characters be dashed only to be resurrected and become reality in their fantasy world.
If there is one quality and lesson that pervades the season of thanksgiving and festive reflection, it is perseverance. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines perseverance as “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness.” We witness perseverance in action in the cycle of the harvest and in the miraculous dreams of the Christmas season. A dream can be defined as “a strongly desired goal or purpose” or “something that fully satisfies a wish : ideal[.]” And experience teaches us that a dream often has to go dormant or even die before it is resurrected and bears “much fruit.”
This theme of perseverance was highlighted in an inspiring book I recently picked up in an airport shop. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II tells the story of young women who courageously served their country without receiving public recognition. These code girls laid down their own dreams to patriotically, sacrificially, and selflessly tackle the dreams of their country and do groundbreaking, crucial, tedious and top-secret work decoding Japanese and German coded messages. Men’s and women’s lives literally depended on the success or failure of their efforts. Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, they persevered through numerous demoralizing failures until they succeeded. Solving certain codes resurrected their dreams of solving other “unbreakable” codes — and they did. In the process, their resurrected and realized dreams made possible the American dream — which suffered its own periods of near death and resurrection — of making the defeat of fascism and Nazism a reality.
What about our dreams for our lives, spouses, work, friendships, and world? Like the harvest, our favorite Christmas movie, and the code girls’ work, the death of our dreams often precedes their resurrection. Unlike most Hallmark movies, not every dream is resurrected with a happy and successful ending. Some dreams lie dormant for decades if not centuries. We often look at that dormancy or death as a complete failure on our part or others to realize those dreams. But we can take comfort, knowing that perseverance has the power to resurrect those dreams God destines to become reality.
Throughout the New Testament, we see a pattern of Christians persevering by God’s grace in the midst of tremendous challenges and the death and resurrection of many dreams. The apostle Paul spoke of the necessity of perseverance in his own Christian walk as he dealt with what we might call two dreams — one was finishing his course and ministry with joy, and the other was having “ a thorn in [his] flesh ” removed. His words should encourage us in the midst of our frustration over our own weaknesses and failures and our fear of them derailing our dreams.
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” — Acts 20:24 KJV.
Paul was unmoved by the past (and future) trials and tribulations of life. They did not ultimately derail his dream of finishing his course and ministry with joy because he chose to persevere. And even as Paul endured “a thorn in [his] flesh” which he had implored the Lord to take from him, he shared the encouragement God had given him in his weakness.
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV.
As Paul persevered to realize his dream of finishing his course and ministry, God spoke to Paul that His grace was sufficient and that His strength was perfect. Paul’s dream of having the “ thorn in [his] flesh ” removed died and instead Paul took joy in the fact that God’s power was resting upon Paul — which enabled Paul to realize his bigger dream, finishing his “race” well (2 Timothy 4:7).
So, in this season of celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year, as we ponder our dreams past and present, we can safely entrust them to the Lord and persevere. Some dreams will die and never be resurrected. That is just fine. But later in life, we will be able to see some dreams resurrected — perhaps many times — and will note that perseverance was the key to seeing those dreams become reality. Persevere — and you will bring “forth much fruit.”
Noah Summers is a researcher and writer.