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Endurance:
Keep Hope Alive!
Keep Hope
Alive!
Rumor had it that several slaves would be sold the next day. A
chain gang would be taken to a distant plantation farther south at
least that was the rumor.
Three of those said to be on the list to go were a
slave woman about 25 years old and her two brothers. For some time,
the young woman had contemplated escape, but now such thoughts
flooded her mind in earnest.
Realizing that they would likely be separated,
never to see one another again, she found her brothers and prevailed
upon them to run that night. After the sun had set and darkness
cloaked their huddle of cabin, the party of three set out knowing
only that somewhere north they could find freedom.
The three figures slipped through the midnight forest. The cabins
disappeared from view, and the familiar fields vanished behind
them. Panting for free air, the weary pilgrims pressed into the
night, but the night was also filled with fears.
The woodland shadows reached for them like vision of
angry pursuers certain to follow the next morning. The cracks of
branches beneath their feet echoed like the crack of a whip certain
to fall mercilessly upon their backs if caught. Around them the
creatures of the forest sounded their eerie warnings.
One of the men broke the silence as his steps began to
balk under the terror welling in his heart. The other brother gave
voice to his own growing hesitations, and the three soon stopped and
engaged in heated debate.
Alone, the young woman urged her brothers to press
ahead. Pointing above the trees to the twinkling light of the North
Star, she gave voice to the hope reflected in that light. But the
two men could not see beyond the night shadows. Refusing to go
farther, the brothers abandoned the course and hastily retreated to
their cabins before they could be missed.
But one pressed
on alone, resolved never to turn back. Her brothers were deterred
by their fears, but the lone woman had her eyes fixed on the hope of
what she sought, and that hope gave her the strength to endure. Her
name was Harriet Tubman, and her struggle to convey enduring hope to
her people in bondage continued long after her own escape that
fateful night.
Endurance is
the inward strength to withstand stress and do my best. Hope
is the fuel that keeps inward strength alive. Endurance is not
possible without hope.
Harriet found her freedom when she crossed the Ohio
River several days later. She was free! But she was alone. With
her family still behind, Harriet purposed to prepare a home for her
family and then return to retrieve them from the chains of slavery,
and perhaps more crippling, from the chains of hopelessness.
Keep hope alive. When the fear of failure and
opposition overwhelms, bolster your endurance with a lively hope.
Hope on the Job
Amid the tense unrest of the Middle East, a military officer was
once asked if she ever became discouraged. She replied, I cannot
afford myself the luxury of discouragement.
Few attitudes are as crippling as discouragement.
Discouragement weighs down the heart, and continued discouragement
compounds itself, darkens the mind, and weakens the body.
Realistically, we all face discouragement, but we cannot afford to
let discouragement reign over our hearts. Life must
burn with the fire of hope.
Do not resign to despair when a project fails of obstacles
loom large. Keep hope alive.
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