Stick at it

Here’s a question for you: What do the following people have in common: Walt Disney, Vincent Van Gogh, Michael Jordon, Rudyard Kipling and Sir James Dyson?

Whilst you ponder that question, let me tell you a little about my attempt to gain fitness.  During the second half of last year I accomplished the ‘Couch to 5k’ challenge, which is aimed, over a 9-week period, to gradually build you up to be able to run 5k (about 30 minutes of running).  Of course, the real challenge was how to avoid losing the momentum.  For some weeks I ran for half an hour 3 times a week.  As winter drew on, I changed to using my cross-trainer which is located in the garage.

In some ways I am enjoying the exercise, but the truth is that every time I am on the cross-trainer a little voice inside my mind keeps saying things like, “well, you’ve done 15 minutes, surely it’s time to stop now – you don’t need to do 30 minutes EVERY time, you can do that next time!”  I find it extremely difficult to shut out that voice; there is a great temptation to quit early, though so far I have managed to keep going to the end.

Which brings my back to the question with which I began this blog.  Last week I took a school assembly and the theme given to me by the school was ‘Challenges and perseverance.”  I asked the children to identify five famous people (some no longer alive) from the clues I gave them.  They did well to guess all five.  I then went on to talk a little about them, and especially about the setbacks and failures which they experienced.

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because, his editor said, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”  During his lifetime Vincent Van Gogh received hardly any acclaim for his work and sold only one of his paintings, and that was to a friend for a very small amount of money. Despite this, he continued working throughout his life, never seeing success himself.  His works now fetch many millions.  Basket ball player Michael Jordon once said, “I have missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the gam winning shot, and I have missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  Author Rudyard Kipling was fired from his role as contributor to the San Francisco Examiner in 1889 because he was told by an editor, “I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”  While developing his vacuum, Sir James Dyson went through 5,126 failed prototypes and his savings over 15 years.  But the 5,127th prototype worked, and the Dyson brand became a best-selling bagless vacuum brand around the world; he is now a billionaire.

What do they have in common – they persevered, they didn’t give up, despite the massive setbacks they faced.  I shared with the children a verse from St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up’ (6.9).  Sometimes life is really hard, and the temptations to quit are strong.  But we challenge is always to press on, and those who follow Christ know that he is our constant companion.

Let me end with a little saying which I came cross: “Postage stamps are getting more expensive, but at least they have one attribute that most of us could emulate: they stick to one thing until they get there”.