John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn, a man who who was supposed to have “true grit”
I have been hit with a bit of a cold, and it is sapping a lot of my energy. Yesterday was probably the worst, and today it is downgraded to a big annoyance. Yet, here I am, continuing on. I suppose that is a little bit of grit.
And, in the midst of it all, I have to face a funeral this week. What’s that? Oh, no. Not that funeral. That, of course, is an important funeral also, and it is certainly appropriate to pray for that particular family and church. Death is never easy, and we will miss those who have left holes in our lives.
My cousin was just a few years old than I, but he liked to live on the wild side. He worked hard. He played hard. He lost the ability to walk way too young, but trained himself to use a walker for Grandma’s second wedding. That took grit.
Grit has a downside. How is it that people who are so successful can self-destruct so easily? My theory is that the passion that feeds one also feeds the other. It really is a matter of channeling it into the right area.
Yet, the positive elements of grit are only now becoming better understood, it would seem. In particular, educators are finally beginning to understand that it isn’t IQ that is the best determiner of good grades in school. Students must be motivated to do well. Other factors might be important, but grit is the only actual determining factor. It even topped feeling safe at school.
While listening to the above TED Talk, I could not help but think of what Jesus often repeated in so many ways:
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
~ Mt 24:13
Passion (putting first the Kingdom of God) + endurance to the end = grit. It requires a passion for what you are doing so that you can persevere in spite of all sorts of obstacles. No wonder the Bible talks about a love of the truth, especially in regards to being saved (2Th 2:10). It makes me wonder, when Jesus said “the love of many shall wax cold” (Mt 24:12) was he talking only about human relations, or was He referring to the love of the truth as well?
22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
Now, there was a man of true grit!