This is kinda cool! As I’m writing to/for my coaching friends, I realize that it all applies to me now too! This injection of encouragement is from a devotional that I read this morning with breakfast. It really got me pumped up! Enjoy!
Observe two things about perseverance: 1- Perseverance means stopping NOT because you’re tired, but because the task is done! Diplomat Robert Strauss quipped, “Success is like wrestling a 1000 pound gorilla. You don’t quit when you are tired— you quit when the gorilla is tired.” When you’re fresh, excited and energetic (like you are at this time of the year) you work at a task with vigor. Only when you become weary do you need perseverance! Fatigue and discouragement are not reasons to quit, they’re reasons to draw closer to God, rely on your character and keep going. We underestimate what it takes to succeed. When we haven’t counted the cost we approach challenges with mere interest; what’s required is total commitment!
2-Perseverance doesn’t demand more than we have, but all that we have. Author Frank Tyger observed, “In every triumph, there is a lot of try.” But perseverance means more than just trying or working hard. Perseverance is an investment. It’s a willingness on our part to bind ourselves emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually to an idea, purpose or task… until it is finished. Perseverance demands a lot, but here’s the good news: everything you give is an ivestment in yourself! What do I mean by this? Wellllllllllllll, each time you do the right thing— seek God, work hard, treat others with respect, learn and grow— you invest in yourself. To do these things every day takes perseverance, but if you do them your success is guaranteed! Maybe not on the scoreboard in the stadium every Friday but in the “scoreboard of life” that God keeps. That has eternal consequences which far exceed how many points we put on the board during a game. Think about it!
