Pressing On

“Mom, where’s the end? I’m hungry,” Zay said, head hung low, feet trudging well-packed earth.

“Almost there,” I said. “Then we’ll have lunch. C’mon Little Man, press on.”

We were over-our-heads lost in a sorghum maze. Sweet October sunshine spliced the field. Tall stalks, heavy with deep-colored grain, bent and beckoned us to pick through, move forward, carry on. The boys had bolted into the maze, fresh with energy and excitement and little-boy zest. But as we walked and picked and poked our way across an acre, their excitement waned.

Each time the path brushed against the exit, it whispered back, deep and quiet, into the thick.

We’d get so close, only to be led away.

Perseverence.

To get out of that field, we needed to press ahead. Didn’t matter if little legs were tired. Or if tummies were grumbling for the peanut butter sandwiches that were in the car. Or if the fun had been lost around the last bend.

We needed to keep moving. 

Toward the exit.

Toward the goal.

One son had a blister from the rub of his new fall shoes.

Another twisted a tissue around an injured finger.

And as I watched the boys plod forward, I wondered what long-walk circumstances their lives would bring. I wondered about the times when they’d be tired, needing, hungry for something, but in an against-the-wall and nowhere- to- go- but- forward place.

What would their struggles be?

Would they have strength to press on?

It’s a prayer what I want to lift for my children. That they would be men who will persevere. Through tough times.  Hard circumstances. Men who won’t abandon ship, take the easy road, or stop in their tracks because moving ahead means pushing harder with sweat and sacrifice.

It is my prayer that they will be men who will trust in God to lead them, provide for them, take them through the tangles, and deliver them to wide open fields.

Will they trust enough? Persevere in His promises?

I want to claim it for my sons.

Speak it out loud.

Eventually that twisting, twining maze-path opened to a bright autumn day. And as we left the sorghum, I whispered the words.

In the grace of God and the strong name of Jesus, Logan, Grant, Samuel, Gabriel, and Isaiah will persevere.