It Looked Easy

By Lynn Ludwick

I’d owned the filing cabinet for many years, a $25 stationery store buy, discounted due to a small dent on the side. Though the cabinet had served me well, its battleship gray was blah. When I saw in a decorating magazine and at a friend’s business the newest trend in office equipment—bare metal—I was intrigued and determined to redo mine. My friend described the process and said that while it took work, it wasn’t hard. Quite doable, she encouraged. I figured a few chemicals, a bit of elbow grease, a couple of afternoons, and voila—a new look.

I lugged the cabinet, whose weight was somewhat akin to an ocean liner’s anchor, to the back patio and dug in. Halfway through the second can of not-so-cheap stripper and well into the fourth day of elbow grease I realized the paint was industrial strength—meant to stay put. Further, clumps of rust were appearing out of nowhere. I applied rust remover, but instead of removing the rust, my efforts seemed to manufacture the brown stuff. And the swirled finish I attempted with the sander created a look far from my imaginings.

I was tempted to toss—well drag and shove—the monster into the nearest river or over the nearest cliff, but reasoned someone would catch me and fine me for littering. Besides, several boxes of temporarily displaced files cluttered my office floor. Quitting was not an option.

So I persevered. My resolve wavered at times, but that hunk of metal wasn’t going to get the best of me. Eventually I finished and it now sits proud and shiny in my office. I’ve chosen to ignore that the chemicals cost more than the cabinet’s original price tag.

Perseverance. My parents encouraged it, calling it stick-to-it-iveness. It’s the virtue captured in “Don’t Quit,” an old poem by the renowned Anonymous: “When things go wrong, as they sometimes will . . .Rest if you must, but don’t you quit…”

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:2-4 Okay, the sufferings Paul spoke of carry far greater import than refinishing a filing cabinet, but God cares about our everyday lives. We have the privilege of practicing godly virtues in the most ordinary circumstances—patience in traffic, kindness with a fellow worker, perseverance in our creative endeavors.

My American College Dictionary defines perseverance: “steady persistence in a course of action…” Tenacity. For one, it’s the bedrock of parenting. What parent hasn’t raised children with the phrase, “If I told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times...” An old friend who rarely writes to me, appreciates that I keep the Christmas newsletters and birthday cards going her way. Thus we stay in touch. For any of us, we only lose pounds as we stick to a regimen of fewer calories, and gain strength by continually showing up at the gym. Habits are formed or broken by steadfastly saying yes or no.

When I look at my filing cabinet these days, I’m glad I toughed it out and gained a thing of beauty, along with a bit of better character. It’s an object-lesson reminder that God wants me to hang in there with faith and diligence in order to reap His virtues—perseverance, hope, goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, brotherly kindness, love—the Spirit fruit that Paul and Peter mention.
A few days ago I walked by my little pie safe, the one with flaking blue paint, and contemplated how much better it would look in bare metal. After all, just a bit of stripper, a few hours—it’s much smaller than the filing cabinet. Hmm… When spring arrives, I think I’ll tote it out back and apply a healthy helping of perseverance and thus add to my character.

“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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 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

Lynn Ludwick writes from Medford, OR. lynniegirl45@hotmail.com