We will never reach the other side of our dreams without determination.
A few months ago I was washing dishes when my 2 year-old daughter, Micaela, let out a gut wrenching scream. I dropped the soap sponge into the water and sprinted to the living room. I expected to see blood, maybe a wasp, something. Instead I found Micaela gripping her mega blocks and screaming.
Then began one of the longest weeks of my life.
As a special needs child with Cerebral Palsy and multiple vision impairments, Micaela’s mind is light years ahead of her body and speaking abilities. She watched her older sister, Adela, build towers for a few days and decided to give it a shot. I squatted beside Micaela and carefully showed her the holes in the blocks. I demonstrated how they fit together. Then I handed her one. She tried. The block fell on top the tower and rolled away. She screeched. I winced.
She knew what she wanted to accomplish, but coordinating wrist movement and depth perception was a monumental task.
For an entire week she played with those blocks. She would come crying, carrying the culprit plastic bricks, and I would show her over and over.
Finally, the crying stopped. She could do it. Our entire household let out a relieved sigh.
Oh, those mega blocks. We all have them. Mine are raising my children and becoming a successful Christian communicator. Watching Micaela that week was good for my heart. Her determination and following success was inspiring.
Proverbs 13:4, says: The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. (ESV)
How many people, called to do God's work, stop when the work gets too hard and takes too long?
Micaela’s pain and frustration was real, but so is the smile on her face when she shows off her new skill. If she had only craved to build a tower, but hadn’t forged through the hours of anger and mental exhaustion, she would never have done it.
Our best dreams are often our tallest mountains.
May our lives be blessed by the climb.
Proverbs 16:3, NIV