On a walk around the cemetary in Gettysburg, it was striking the number of World War II casualties from 1944 and 1945.
World War II was effectively “won” when the allies invade France – D-Day – in June of 1944. Yet the overwhelming majority of Allied ground casualties in the European theater occurred after that date.
For Lincoln, a full year after the tide had really turned at Gettysburg, he wrote of the election of 1864 that the “bottom was out of the tub” and that he had precious little time to save the Union before he was run out of office in the fall elections.
Spiritual growth is much same way. As one individual noted, we get asked the same question twice. The question, “Do you really want this?” That question comes as the excitement of the beginning ends. It comes again right before victory, right before real change.
There is a way in which when we really engage – really take on the enemy in enemy territory – that we have “won.” That does not mean though that life will be without challenges – many of which appear death defying. It does mean a part of us has “died” or surrendered that will actually allowed for real growth to take place.