Persevere

We are all falling. This hand is falling.
And look at the others: it is in them all.
And yet there is One who holds this falling
with infinite softness in His hands.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

No matter what we do or how good we are at something, we will come to a time where we fall. We might lose. We might stumble. We might fail. But we all do that. We do not stand alone in our struggle.

The degrees of falling will differ, but none of us likes the feeling. Unless you like to sky-dive, falling is not generally a sought after state of being, whether figuratively or literally. I remember when I was little I loved to play outside and practice gymnastics stunts and run around. I would sometimes trip and fall to my knees scraping them on the cement, but what did I do? I stood up, wiped the dirt off my knees and kept on running.

I didn't realize it then, but I was acting out a state of perseverance. Why is falling not a big issue when you are little? You have a support system, an authoritative figure (parents) who encouraged you on, even when you fall. Especially when you fail. We lack that as adults many times because our society praises successes and rewards only that. But what about those of us to try and try again? I love Rilke's words in the poem above, about how we are all falling, and yet no matter how hard we fall, the loving God catches us softly.

To persevere, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is to continue in spite of difficulty or lack of success.

So practice perseverance in everything you do. Keep showing love and kindness when it is not shown to you. Don't back down from taking those steps towards your dream. Think of this. No matter what you do in life, snags are going to come along to make you stumble, but if you are using your time wisely by making use of the talents that were given to you, those snags aren't going to seem like a big deal. Because you have chosen happiness everyday. But if you choose stress and worry and giving up, the snag is going to come along and cut you off from any happiness you were clinging to, causing you to sink deeper into worry.

There is something beautiful in being able to dust ourselves off and keep going.

Saints are sinners who keep on going.
-Robert Louis Stevenson