Never Give Up

DateLine (12/06/06 – Nanuet, NY)

When I began my college experience at a small liberal arts school there were two classes of Freshman General Chemistry. As I remember it about half of those students were declared Chemistry Majors (~ 20 students). Four years later only four of us walked across the stage at commencement as degreed Chemists. Over 30% of college students leave after the first year and almost 50% never graduate, according to the Department of Education as documented on http://www.youngmoney.com/. This statistic is consistent with my observation. Most of my peers did not flunk out, they dropped out or quit.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States once said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Most long term human endeavors suffer from lack of persistence. Persistence is one of the most undervalued character traits. God saw fit to challenge us via the book of Hebrews to exhibit persistence in 12:1; “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” It’s clear that a part of the human challenge is to press on even when we’d rather just drop by the wayside.

As a parent one of the some of the most important traits that I can model is persistence. My cue to model these traits is the Father. We don’t think of the Christmas story of one of persistence but it is. From the beginning, God planned a rescue of creation. Through thousands of years He stuck to the plan. About two thousand years ago the pace of the plan quickened; God became a man. The plan is still on track today. Christmas is a reminder of the persistence of God. There are no carols that echo the words; doggedness, perseverance, persistency, tenacity, tenaciousness, and pertinacity but there should be.

This Christmas as you see the lights, hear the carols, and prepare for family gatherings let it remind you of the persistence of the Father.