Persevere

Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.---St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr (4th century)

Some days are harder than others. When we feel at our weakest, this is when we must look up with hope for Paul said, "When I am weak He is strong in me." Perseverance is not positive thinking, it is carrying a cross on a bruised and beaten shoulder up a hill while the world around you laughs or ignores you. Perseverance is not "just hanging in there", it is fighting to keep holy and pure in the face of temptation to despair and turn away from God. We must pray for one another.

wkm