We stumbled upon a small church in the mountain town of Monteverde, Costa Rica and decided to go to a prayer service they were having one night. We showed up to the church and the service began. There wasn’t a specific format to the service – they played worship music and created space for people to pray for whatever they felt led to pray for. I walked around as I prayed and worshipped.
I walked short laps up and down one side of the church. As I was doing so, I saw a june bug that had somehow managed to flip itself onto its back. I watched it struggle for a couple of seconds to see if it would be able to turn itself upright. When it was clear that it was stuck, I flipped it back over onto its feet. Not thinking much of it, I turned around and continued to walk up and down the aisle. When I got back to where the june bug had been… there it was… on its back again. So I flipped it over again and continued walking. Every time I returned, it had somehow managed to end up on its back again – legs flailing as it struggled to turn back over.
Now, if I’m being honest, usually I would have forgotten about the june bug… I would have picked a different path and ignored it. I would have gotten tired of flipping it over again and again. (“Hadn’t it learned its lesson?”) But something told me to keep going back. So I did.
By about the fourth or fifth time I flipped the bug over, I felt God sweetly speak to me. He reminded me that we can’t always do things on our own. That’s the purpose of community – so that we don’t have to walk things out alone. Sometimes we need the help of others to steady us and pick us up when we fall down.
Even more so, God reminded me that the image of me and the june bug is like Him and me. He patiently turns me over and sets me on my feet even when I continually mess up and get stuck. He is persistent with me. And He keeps setting me upright even though He knows that I’m really good at continually getting stuck on my back.
God is sweet to me. He is patient with me. He is persistent. He is good.
How have you seen God’s patience and persistence in your life recently?
(View from our cozy little hostel in the Cloud Forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica.)
(My team and I! Can you spot the rainbow in the background?)
