Wednesday, November 22, 2006
On the way to the place where I workout today, I heard on the radio a portion of the story of the pilgrims. This was the 'before they reached the new land' part of the story, the same one I've been reading to my own children this week. Though while I had been reading the story from Margaret Pumphrey's Pilgrim Stories I hadn't quite put together the exact timing of all the events. As I learned while listening, the Pilgrims (or Separatists, as they were then called) spent 12 years in Holland before setting sail for the New World. Even after setting sail, they were beset with setbacks and had to return to England several times before giving up one of their two ships, shrinking their number and setting off late in the fall. 12 years they waited, yet still they longed for a new world where they could worship as they pleased. While in Holland, they endured poverty and hardship. Men, women and children worked to raise the funds to purchase the ship and goods they would need to set forth on their quest. They had to agree to give up 7 years of their lives and labors, including any buildings they built during that time, in exchange for the payment of their passage and the provision of supplies for the new world. All told, it would be over 19 years before they experienced the true freedom that they sought when first setting out from England.
I am reminded of this perseverance today as I think on the things from which I long to be free. How often do I pray one day to be set free from some temptation and expect that by the next day I will realize my goal? How often do I feel that God has not heard me simply because His timetable is not mine? When next I begin to feel the frustration of not being set free from some thorn in my side, I will remember the long wait of the Pilgrims who longed only to be free to worship their Lord.
