Raising the Bar

My middle child Matthias wanted to be a lawyer ever since joining debate club at age 11. He became a member of Charlotte Teen Court as an "attorney" as soon as he was old enough to be allowed to do so. He worked hard in school, and then want on to become a top student in law school. He sacrificed a great deal working towards his dream. He never wavered in his desire, and he kept plugging through some very deep disappointments. He never gave up, though there were many times I thought surely the many obstacles, setbacks, or failures might finally do him in. 

An abysmal economy hit during his years in law school. A very small percentage of his fellow students were extended summer internships or job prospects. In prior years, most law students would have paid internships and job offers at the end of their first year. By the time he graduated, he had still not received a job offer.

Dismayed, but refusing to give up, he continued applying. And then he got an interview with a major firm that had turned him down his first year as a law student. It was the firm in Virginia he had most wanted to work for. He didn't want to get his hopes up because there had been so many disappointments. It was a miraculous, joyful day when they hired him. All that was left was to pass the bar exam.

Students take the Bar in early summer. They don't find out if they passed until late October. He began working at the wonderful law firm, but of course, he had to pass the bar exam. 

Yesterday, I got a text message from my remarkable, hard working, never-giving-up son:

He passed the bar on his first try.

It is so easy to throw in the towel, especially when confronted with failure after failure. It is so easy to blame others, or to blame God when the world seems to be against us. It is much harder to keep trying, keep praying, keep hoping, keep persevering.

I write this with tears in my eyes, filled with love and pride and joy for my wonderful son, a man of God who exemplifies perseverance. I feel a little bit more able to tackle the day thinking of his example. In things of God, we will often be ridiculed, and discouraged by an increasingly anti-God society. We are often deceived that lowering our standards, lowering the bar of moral dictates or Godly behavior is what we need to do to reach the world. It is a lie, and one we should not succumb to. All of us are called to persevere in our walk with God as much as we our able, and in the end, we will be rewarded. Jesus set the bar, not us, and He wants us to pass over it even more than we do.

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For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV)