Week 44 2013 Persistence

I have been watching a documentary on Diana Nyad and her swimming from Cuba to Miami.  She has lived a life of persistence.  From failing to swim around Manhattan to her latest conquest, she has always persevered, not giving up until she has accomplished her goal.  As such, she has been successful.  Instead of giving up when she has failed, she comes back again and again until she succeeds.  She learns to overcome the obstacles, persists in her attempts, and finally enjoys success.

I once heard read that a baby will fall 600 times before finally learning to walk.  They don’t seem to know failure.  They just keep getting up, pulling themselves to a standing position, and trying again to make that first step, followed by the second, and then the third, until they are walking.  And, as we all know from experience, they always succeed.  Failure is not an option.

And then, of course, we’ve all heard how many failures Thomas Edison experienced before finally basking in the light of his first sustainable light bulb.  Aren’t we glad that he didn’t give up?  Because of his perseverance we enjoy light in the darkness, not to mention all of the advances that have come on the back of the electric light bulb.  It is the grand-daddy of the television, stereo, microwave oven, ad infinitum.

Given these successes, one might wonder why any of us ever give up on a goal.  But, the sad truth is that we very often give up with just a few attempts.  In fact, many of defeat ourselves before we even try.  We tend to look at all the obstacles, instead of looking at the ways those obstacles are overcome.  Truth is, there are very few things we cannot accomplish if we have enough faith.  Jesus said that if we have the faith of grain of a mustard seed we could move mountains.  Some have taken this to heart and accomplished amazing feats, while others go throughout their lives never realizing any of their hopes and dreams without ever trying.