"It's Not A Fight, It's A Grind"

 I was reading r/personalfinance Reddit today on a thread titled "Can't afford to live at this point" about a single guy trying to get out of, basically, poverty. Lots of people suggested National Guard, Merchant Marine, working 14 hours a day minimum with multiple jobs, etc. One person commented, "We have to fight for the future we want," which was followed up with this, which I gave me a lot to think about:

"It's not really a fight. It's a grind. That's what people fail to realize and why they get discouraged. They make a plan, feel great about it, start executing that plan. but they didn't anticipate the grind of putting in the work every single day, day after day, year after year. And so they bail on the plan, or look for shortcuts, and that nearly always goes badly. 

Mentally prepare yourself for that grind. Girder yourself against it. Getting rich is a SLOOOOOOOW process for most people."

This (IMO, great) advice goes beyond personal finance. It could apply to your spiritual life; a healthy living routine; overcoming depression. I recall even Fr. Ripperger saying he has no real charisms apart from just "grinding it out" during exorcisms. 

I imagine it would also speak to my pro-life friends who have been in the trenches for years fighting the good fight. I am heading to the courthouse in the city on Saturday to take part in a pro-life counter-rally to the abortion advocates gathering there. My "fight" and witness is sporadic at best. I get knocked down fairly easily; I never anticipate the grind. 

But this is the long-game, and it is also a spiritual war, with many battles to be waged daily--not only on the street, and in the courts, but in the chapels and bedsides as well. You need thick skin and a broad back, but also callouses on your hands that develop over years. The blindness is probably the hardest part. No one is persuaded by the logic of life and the illogic of abortion; and people are in fact, looking for the 'shortcuts' that abortion offers. They make it 'easy' but it costs so much in the end. 

We are fighting a spiritual war and grinding it out in the daily battles for those who fight them--not only in the fight for life, but in the daily spiritual grind to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). We need to mentally prepare for that grind. Girder yourself against it. Few people earn their crown overnight. For most of us, it's the one foot in front of the other on the way to Calvary.