Today’s five minute friday prompt is “middle”.

I begin every school year with great excitement. New material to explore, brightly colored teaching aids hang on the walls, sharp-tipped crayons and colored pencils are ready for creativity.

We have an entire school year to embrace.

Unfortunately, that enthusiasm doesn’t last. Oh, it stays with us through all the fun fall projects, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but right around the middle of January, I decide I really don’t want to homeschool anymore.

January is a bleak month here. February is even worse. It is cold and dark and everything is the same day after day after day.

A lot of things in life are like this. We start out with great excitement at a new job, gym membership, or adventure in life only to reach the middle and find our enthusiasm gone. We become overwhelmed with the monotony or the challenges of it all.

The busyness, stress, and frustration seem to peak somewhere in the middle. Maybe because things didn’t go the way you had planned. Maybe the end result is yet so far off that you can’t see it. Perhaps the challenges were greater than you had imagined or your goals were unrealistic.

So what do we do when we are stuck in the middle?

Why, we persevere, of course! (Did you know that persistence in the Bible is considered faith?)

“Perseverance is the secret of all triumphs” (Victor Hugo)

So, dear friends, I challenge you today. If you find yourself in the middle, with your starting enthusiasm dwindled and the end is nowhere in sight, know that you are not alone.

Take a deep breath, refocus, and muster your perseverance. You will be glad that you did!