At the beginning of the year, I made a goal to publish a blog post every Monday. 52 entries for 2016. The intention was to write on Friday, then edit Monday morning and publish Monday night.
This started to slide as the months passed, and about halfway through the year I found myself writing, editing, and publishing all on Monday night.
Then, in November, I missed a Monday, settling for a Tuesday night post. Now, two weeks left in the year, I have struggled to think up something worthwhile to post. Monday has become Saturday afternoon.
The original goal - Monday posts - cannot be met. But there is still a chance to say that I wrote and published something every week in 2016. Why give up with only two weeks to go?
Last weekend's icefall
The past two months have brought their share of disappointments. But that's no excuse to give up on something else, just to add to the pile of should-have-beens.
Do not give up. Press on.
Tomorrow, many people folks celebrate Christ's birth - an ultimate message of hope that came in an unlikeliest of ways at an uncertain time for the people of Israel. Perhaps, in the little things in our lives, there is an echo of this larger story: That our hopes can one day be fulfilled. Our disappointments are no conclusion to the story.
Whether the obstacles you face today are large or small; whether the circumstances of your life are overwhelming or merely inconvenient:
Do not give up. Press on!