Persevering Under Trial

James 1:12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

A few months ago I embarked upon a project that I normally do on the property that borders ours.  This is not a fun job.  It is done with a machete, will, and determination.  Privet is an invasive shrub that threatens to overtake the fence that runs east and west on our property's southern border. I cannot let the privet overtake the fence or it will ground out the 'hot wire' and encroach into our pasture.

With my machete, I chop the privet and try my best to pull it up from the roots.  Since this was done a few months ago, the privet was lush, green, full of leaves.  As I would chop, I'd throw the cut pieces over the fence for the goats to eat.  Goats love browse!  This afternoon I caught up on my other chores and intended to walk along the southern fence and toss all the privet branches back over into the woods.  The cut privet branches had sat for the entire winter in the muddy area on the south side of the property.  The goats and bulls had immediately eaten all the leaves off months ago.  Today I needed to toss the old, dead branches over to make way for spring grass.  Here's one of those branches now:

The ground is indeed muddy and barren.  The soft, moist soil is littered with flowers that have fallen from Chinaberrry trees.  You can see the work of my sharpened machete on one end of the privet branch below:

As I reached down to pick it up and toss it, something odd caught my eye.  The dead stick had fresh, green growth coming out.  New leaves, despite no roots.  New growth, despite being cut from the tree months ago.  This is semi-miraculous.  How does this happen?

I'd say it happened for several reasons.  An abnormally wet winter ensured that the ground stayed muddy.  The bulls and goats pressed the cut branches into the mud, resulting in the branch never drying out.  Primarily, though, God's remarkable creation is resilient, complex, and strong.  His plants and animals have a desire to live, to reproduce, even in formidable situations.

What a beautiful illustration of perseverance lying in the southern end of my pasture.  As I stood there looking at the green leaves growing from a seemingly dead branch, I first thought of the Biblical account of Moses' rod that budded.  But then I began to think about how much perseverance, how much will, how much desire to live, that the privet branch exhibited.  And I thought that this is how we should be, especially in the time we're in now.

In the book of James, the Bible tells us that the man who endures testing and trial and perseveres and is found worthy by God, will receive the crown of life (eternal life) to those who love Him.  Everyone who truly loves God will experience trials and tribulations in this world.  This we are promised.  But those trials will be recompensed by our Creator.  May we be found faithful.  May we endure.  May we have dogged perseverance in the midst of our trials!