Do Not Give Up
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
–Hebrews 12:1-4, 12
Perseverance? It’s about not giving up.
Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” But what if he had given up on his 999th attempt?
Babe Ruth was famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career. He said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” But what if he had counted those strikes as failure?
After Fred Astaire‘s first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” He kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home. How many of us would have simply thrown in the towel?
Dolly Parton once said, when asked how she had emerged so successfully from her impoverished roots in Appalachia, “I never stopped trying. And I never tried stopping.”
What about you? Are you feeling tempted to give up on something–a dream? a hope? a person? yourself? on love? maybe even on God? What might it take for you to press on? to take the next step? That’s what this Sunday is about! Plan to make worshp a priority this week!
Grace and Peace,
Callie
