Once upon a time there were a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a competition, with the goal of seeing which frog could first reach the top of a very high tower.
A big crowd gathered around the tower the day of the race to watch and cheer on the contestants, though, truth be told, they were there more for the food and fun than anything else—no one actually believed any of the frogs could climb such a tall tower.
The race began and almost immediately, some in the crowd started calling out, “Give it up! It’s way too difficult! The tower’s too high! It’s not possible!”
The tiny frogs struggled to climb the tower, but eventually, the negative comments started taking their toll. One by one the tiny frogs began collapsing and falling back to the ground—all except for one, who kept climbing higher and higher, despite all those calling for him to give up like the rest.
Sure enough, eventually, that one tiny frog DID reach the top of the tower.
He came back down to the cheers of all, and of course, everyone wanted to know how was he able to climb the tower when no one else could. They kept asking and asking but he never answered. A moment later, his sister made her way through the crowd to hug and congratulate her victorious brother. The other frogs asked her why he wouldn’t answer them. She said, “Oh, didn’t you know? He’s deaf.”
The things we could do if we shut out the voices of those who say, “give it up, it can’t be done.” And that’s not to give us any credit in ourselves—indeed, without Him, we can do nothing—but it is to say, in Him, you can do all things through Christ, who gives you the strength to do what he has called you to do. Love your enemy? Forgive your spouse? Reconcile with a relative who wronged you? The world would say, “give it up, they’re not worth it, it can’t be done.” But these are the very things God does call his children to do—the very things you CAN do in Him.
Several passages of scripture talk of not turning to the right or left, such as Deuteronomy 5:32, where we read, quote, “Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left,” and Joshua 23:6, which says, “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.”
And of course this story also makes us think of Philippians 3:13-14, where we read, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
So, don’t be surprised when others say this or that can’t be done, and when they do, well, take a lesson from this tiny frog and, as they say, “turn a deaf ear,” to those would keep you from doing what you know the Lord would have you to do, and then, press toward the mark, friend, press on.
