I want to share with you a quote from Calvin Coolidge, 3oth president of the United States.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.
Talent will not: nothing is more commonplace than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent.”
I remember when I first began blogging. It took me a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng time to get all the bells and whistle right.
I remember trying to install the “Follow Me” Twitter Button. Oh, my gosh! It seemed so easy at first but I kept having all the html code show up in addition to the button. knew absolutely nothing about programming. But I started playing around and after many, hours I finally got it working.
But my brain was fried.
I have a good education. I’m smart enough. But that wasn’t it.
It was persistence. But then this whole blogging thing as been more about persistence than anything and it’s one of the accomplishments I am most proud of.
I’m not suggesting I’ve worked harder than anyone else but I think I certainly had less computer skills and computer background than almost anyone else. Everyone time I sit down now and play around with a new theme or some more tweaks, I am now pretty confident I can do it.
Every time I manage to post every day, I feel kind of invincible, kind of like Superwoman.
But no matter how good I might persist with blogging, I get discouraged far more easily and come closer to giving up much sooner when it comes to people and relationships.
But then I guess that applies to most everyone and certainly explains workaholics and people who are more task-oriented than people-oriented. “Things” don’t argue. “Things” aren’t stubborn. “Things” aren’t illogical. I could go on but you get the point, right?
But “things” also can’t love you, encourage you, inspire you, lift you up. “Things” can’t hold you, can’t kiss you, can’t hug you.
The most successful people I know, the most inspiring people I know, all share this one trait, they are persistent. They don’t give up just because something is hard. They put on their “big-girl panties”, or their “big boy shorts” and get ‘er done.
If I could gift a trait to everyone I know, it would be persistence. It wouldn’t be smarts, it wouldn’t be creativity, it would be persistence every time. With persistence comes determination.
Persistence is intentional and I love the word and concept of intentionality.
Hands down.
Persistence applies to all parts of our life, persistence in prayer, persistence in doing the right thing, thinking the right thoughts, using the right words, etc.
A human being with even a moderate intelligence can accomplish just about anything if they persist in their goals.
(In case you wonder if persistence pays off, I’ve been trying for months, to figure out how to change the color of my fonts. Tonight I did it!!!!!. Sure hope the above shows up red for you as it does for me.)
So if you need a shot of encouragement this is yours for today. Don’t give up. Whatever is frustrating you, just keep at it. If you only knew how steep my learning curve was before I got this blog up and running, you would feel YOU could do anything.
Go get ‘er done.
God bless and have a good day.