Patience and Perseverance

Patience: bearing pains or trails calmly or without complaint; steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity

Perseverance: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; steadfastness; 

Webster's 1828 Dictionary: patience to overcome the greatest of difficulties

We recently went on a family hike at the Newport Back Bay, it was beautiful. The scenery was breathtaking. It's amazing where we live because in any direction we go there's always something we can stop and enjoy. We certainly did enjoy ourselves, especially when my little nephew Cole was showing off his pitching arm with some rocks, he's 3 years old and has an arm like a major leaguer.

The one thing that caught my attention the entire day were the vast amount of spider webs on every bush and tree we walked by. These webs were so intricate. It was early morning so the dew was resting on each strand which caused the webs to stand out that much more. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

As I observed these wonderful little created homes I was reminded of a story that I had read to the children one year while studying the character trait of patience. It was neat to come home and reread the story and be reminded in my own life to have patience and perseverance in the difficult seasons of my life. To be still and know that He is God! To know that He is working out a greater more glorious plan in my life through these hard seasons.

I hope you enjoy the read....

In fourteenth-century Scotland, Robert the Bruce fought valiantly for independence from England. Following in the wake of William Wallace, Bruce defied the English crown and had himself crowned king of Scotland in March 1306. Furious, King Edward I sent troops to invade Scotland and to assert English sovereignty. Thus began many years of bloodshed and conflict.
In the first battle that June at Methven, Bruce's army was sorely defeated. Bruce himself barely escaped with his life. Son after, the Scottish warrior and his enemies clashed one again, and once again, his troops were routed.
After fleeing to Ireland for a year, letting the English assume he was dead, Bruce assembled a new army and marched on Carrick. Though this surprise attack initially gave him the upper hand, the english army soon appeared and, far outnumbered, Bruce retreated to the Scottish Highlands.
Again and again, Robert the Bruce pressed the independence of Scotland in arms. Again and again he was defeated, routed, and repelled.
According to legend, the oft-defeated Scot found himself hiding alone one night in an abandoned hut. Lying awake on the floor, pondering the hopelessness of his cause, Bruce is said to have spied a spider clinging to the rafter above him.
He watched as the spider tried to convey its web across to the next rafter. Time and time again, the spider made the attempt; time and time again, the spider failed. Six times in all, the spider tried and failed. But on the seventh attempt, the arachnid reached the second rafter,  and began to spin its web.
Poet Bernard Barton captures the event (and its lesson) in these lines:

...Looking up with wistful eye,
The Bruce beheld a spider try
His filmy thread to fling...
Six times his gossamery thread
The wary spider threw;...
The patient insect, six times foiled,
And yet unconquered still...
One effort more, his seventh and last!
The hero hailed the sign!...
That perseverance gains its wage,
And patience wins the race.

Encouraged by the spider's patient victory, the weary warrior took up his battle axe and assembled another army. On June 24, 1314, after several small victories and many defeats, Bruce soundly defeated the English army at Bannockburn.
Scotland was secured under the crown of Robert the Bruce, and in 1328 England recognized Scotland's independence and Bruce's reign as Scotland's king.
Patience is enduring the suffering of repeated failure without giving up. It is persevering to the end and finishing what one began. Although Robert the Bruce lost more battles than he won, it was the last battle that determined the war-the victory at Bannockburn.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the same, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:1

Be blessed today!