The Bunkbed Parable, Pt. 2

Over the years I have come to appreciate how God will take a situation like assembling a set of bunkbeds for my sons as an opportunity to teach me a lesson for living. The lesson He taught me in this situation was perseverance.  (The Bunkbed Parable Part 1 )

Perseverance is defined as a ‘steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks’.  Difficulties and setbacks. That described my situation. The bunkbeds needed to be assembled, they were not going to assemble themselves and they had to be up by a specific time. I had to get out of bed and go do it. I could whine and cry while I put them together but put them together I must. Yes, it was true that someone had given me the wrong information and no, it was not fair that they did it but the fact was the boys needed a place to sleep. I had to do it. I need to persevere until it was done. 

When I got back to the boys  room, I sorted through the pile on the floor, got the directions and started putting the bed together. Halfway through I found that I needed to have a small Phillips head screwdriver to continue. My toolbox at that time consisted of a hammer, a pair of pliers and a regular sized screwdriver which no matter how hard I tried didn’t fit the top of those screws. I was ready to quit again but I had to go buy a Phillips head screwdriver. I was miserable but I had to get it done. It didn’t matter that my head was aching and my foot was throbbing, I had to persevere.

Thank goodness the rest of the assembly went quickly after that and two and a half hours after I started, the bunkbed frame was done. As I stood back and took a good look at what I had done, a sense of satisfaction started to replace the angry frustration I had been feeling. I still had a killer headache and my toes still hurt but I had gotten it done. In fact, I was so proud to have conquered the situation instead of letting the situation conquer me that I went back out and bought two new sets of matching Star War sheets for the bunkbeds. The boys loved it and were sufficiently awed to hear that their mom had put the beds together all by herself. They were proud of me and I was proud of myself.

That was over twenty-five years ago. The boys are now all men and those bunkbeds are long since gone but the pride and satisfaction I felt at persevering until the task was completed is still with me.  Many times I have thanked God for the experience of assembling those bunkbeds. It has given me the strength to accomplish increasing larger tasks and to handle unexpected situations. It has taught me that no matter what it is that I attempt in my life, if I persevere by the grace of God, I can get it done.