Sweat it Out — Why Persistence is so Essential
Are you sowing your labors in the right place?
Have you ever heard the expression, “sweat it out?”
When we are exercising, when we perspire, we know it’s working.
When we are working towards our goals, why do we feel differently when we need to perspire in similar ways?
When we aspire to do things of meaning, we have to work hard at them. Sometimes… We have to work hard for a long period of time.
Are You Successfully Identifying Success Signs?
We need to remember how we evaluate progress. There are all types of stories to highlight this. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to Jim Collins’ ”Good to Great” and he just talked about how in the early 90s, Circuit City was seen as an overnight success, though they’d been undergoing a turnaround. The same went for Newcorp Steel in the 60s and 0s. They were also seen as an overnight success though they’d been working for 15 years to turn the organization around.
It’s essential to understand the difference between seasonality and permanence.
- Just because there’s a drought one year doesn’t mean you’re a bad farmer.
- Just because you haven’t struck oil yet doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
- Just because you can’t run a full mile yet doesn’t mean you won’t be able to.
My dad and his wife Christine just sent me some beginner plants. I now have cilantro, basil, parsley… but… I don’t really have them. The seed packets said I’d need to wait 90 days for anything I could harvest or use. Are you serious? NINETY days? I’m hungry today!
But that’s not the point. Things take time to grow. We must take time to grow and time to work. We must work so that we can become better. We must persist towards the goal.
We All Hit Walls
We all have struggles, some longer than others, yet we must know when to persist and we must recognize when the expression, “don’t throw good money after bad,” should reign true.
Check a few things:
- Is your background information correct?
- Have you properly prepared?
- Do you have an accurate method of measuring success?
Then there’s the most important question…
Are you sowing your labors in the right place?
Jesus shared the following parable in Matthew 3:3–9:
“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.’” — Matthew 3:3–9 NIV
So, again, are you sowing your labors in the right place?
Are you where God has ordained you to be?
Are you supposed to be where you are?
Are you following God’s path for your life?
Are you being obedient to what your Creator has directed?
Keep going.
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” — James 5:7–8 NIV
“Work plants the seed; civilization reaps the harvest. Work is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others; civilization is the form in which others make themselves useful to us. We plant; God gives the increase to unify the human race.” Lester DeKoster
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