There's a stretch of Interstate 85 that runs from the North Carolina State Line to just north of the Salisbury area which I consider a challenging road to travel. It is tough for me to navigate because it seems endless, nothing but trees as far as the eye can see, very few road signs or distinguishable landmarks on either side of the road, and everywhere you look there is nothing but trees...and every tree looks exactly the same. Whether you look at the road ahead or the road behind, everything looks the same.
I find that stretch of road frustrating because whenever I'm on it I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, not making any progress. I feel like I'm running on a treadmill, and don't know whether I'm coming or going. The feeling of aimlessly spinning your wheels can be as discouraging as it is frustrating because you feel as though you're wasting a lot of energy with nothing to show for it.
But despite the feeling of helplessness I experience whenever I find myself on that road, reality tells a different story. Why do I say that? Because the truth of the matter is this: no matter how lost and out of sorts I feel whenever I'm there, If I make steady progress toward my destination if I just keep going, even if I feel like I'm going nowhere fast, I get where I need to go. Every time. So I just stay the course, I don't turn to the right or to the left, I ignore all the trees ahead that look exactly like the ones I just passed, and just when it seemed like I'd never get off that road to nowhere, I would start to see to places that looked more familiar, more secure, more certain, and locations where I'd be able to gain my bearings and mark my progress.
I think of the bamboo tree in the Far East, the one which takes five years of consistent watering, cultivating, and fertilizing, every single day, before it finally grows to its full height (often as tall at 90 feet in the air) over a five-week span. Its growth is magnificent, seemingly overnight, but it wouldn't happen at all if at any point in time the person doing the watering and fertilizing just gave up...stopped...quit. To see the growth of that plant one cannot be too concerned about the short term, you have to keep the same approach, day in and day out, to achieve the desired objective in the long run. As was often said back in the days of the Civil Rights Movement, you must "...keep your eyes on the prize..."
Long story short, whether you're traveling a long and winding road, cultivating a plant that takes a long time to grow, or building a relationship (business or personal), the end result must always be kept in mind. If you're in it for the quick fix, you'll throw up your hands and quit. If you see an end result that is greater than the temporarily inconvenient circumstances that assault your heart and mind at the moment, you can prevail. The key is to keep pressing, keep moving forward, keep on keepin' on...keep on truckin':
"Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us." - Hebrews 12:1 AMP
That's all for now, gotta run. Until we meet again, remember...
Keep it simple... See ya!
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