Forgiving Fruit

'Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again.
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try again.

- Thomas H. Palmer

Grapes. Such a forgiving little fruit. If you eat a bad grape, all you have to do is try again until you find a good grape. With grapes, the bitterness only lasts a moment, until just one more try yields delightful sweetness.

This "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again" mentality that is subconsciously enabled when eating grapes speaks volumes to the power of persistence. If we are willing to persist with such a trivial venture, then why is it so difficult to persevere in bigger issues?

The terrific thing about perseverance is that it makes victory all the sweeter. Frederick Douglass said,

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

If the first grape you tasted was a bitter one, and you just gave up on grapes altogether, you would miss out on enjoying the sweetness a perfect grape has to offer.

Romans 5:3-6 encourages us to "Rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us,

because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

So as you face challenges, bitterness, and struggles of any sort, persevere! There may be something sweet just around the corner.