A few weeks ago I was walking up the driveway to our house and saw a small green plant growing out of the asphalt. I stopped and looked. I was amazed at how that little plant with its tiny roots could make its way up through all that asphalt, and how the plant could get the nourishment it needed to live.

I thought to myself, I know some people like that—people who live their lives against a backdrop of all kinds of adversity: illness, prejudice, failure, loss, physical and mental challenges of all kinds. I thought of their names and their stories. Then I looked at the plant again, and the asphalt, and I thought how easy it is to let obstacles stand in the way of being fully alive. I wonder how many obstacles I let keep me from living my life fully? I think I can do better.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said it well: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Like the plant whose tenacity literally led to new life, I believe that our tenacity in living our lives fully no matter what our situation will also lead to unexpected opportunity for life. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

– Dent Davis, Pastor, Tryon Presbyterian Church