Quitting

 Have you ever noticed how giving up is catching?

One person gives up, and that leads other people to assume that they have permission to give up, too.  One person stops running, and soon other people begin to drop out of the race.

It got too hard . . .
     It hurt too much . . .
          It was too much work . . .
So they quit.  They bail.  They give up.

And somehow, the rest of us are supposed to feel sorry for them.  Somehow, those who give up become heroes, examples worth following.  We seem to think that those who give up have it harder than those who persevere.  We think that if they get to quit, we can quit, too.

Now, I'm not talking about people who are forced to give up.  Sometimes your boat tips when you're at sea, and you can't right it alone no matter how much you try, and, through no fault of your own, you're forced to quit.  There's no other choice.  No, I'm talking about people who entertain the thought of quitting just because things are hard and uncomfortable.  Even to the point of feeling unbearable.

Let me tell you something:  hanging on, persevering, getting through one more day is way harder than giving up.  Giving up is easy.  Giving up costs nothing except to everyone else.  But holding on?  Holding on is hard.  The  heroes are not the ones who quit.  The heroes are those who hold on to live and fight for one more day.

I don't know about you, but I don't get to give up.  Quitting is not an option.  Period.  I will not allow it to even cross my mind.

It is exhausting to fight the lies in my head with the truth of God's word, but I will not quit.
It is heartwrenching to grieve the losses I have experienced, but I will not quit.
It is inside-out painful to allow the Lord to uproot sins of pride, bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness to make me more like Jesus, but I will not quit.
It is wearying to attempt to establish Christ-like habits and disciplines in my life, but I will not quit.
I can cry until my insides hurt but I don't get to quit.
I can fight, scream, yell, and ask why, but I don't get to quit.
I can stumble and fall, but I don't get to quit.
It might hurt so that every movement, every breath, every heartbeat is an agony, but I still don't get to quit.

Quitting is not an option.  This is the life God has given me, and I don't get to quit.  I don't set the finish line.  I don't call the race.  He does.  I just get to run.

So I run.  My run is a ragged affair.  There is little about it that is impressive or glamorous.  Most of the time, it's more of a painful shuffle.  But that's ok.  Scripture doesn't tell me to fight the good fight and win the race.  It tells me to finish.  It tells me that quitting isn't an option.


The ones who give up are not heroes.  The heroes are the ones who bear the pain for one more day.  They are the ones who keep running when everything in them screams to stop.   Even if they cross the line dead last.