Perseverance

Foundational

Value

What is Perseverance:

Perseverance is the unyielding focus of will and spirit and min; until the goal is met; until the objective is achieved; despite all difficulties or obstacles a person faces in their pursuit. It is “Focused Determination”.

Perseverance in life lifts the common to greatness. Perseverance can mean the difference between achieving or failing; between creating or destroying; between finding or losing.

Perseverance is the value of champions; leaders of spirit; those that are self-determined, self-willed, who don’t give up until they get the job done.

Someone who perseveres, sees things to the end; until the goal sought, becomes the goal accomplished; until the cure sought becomes the cure found; until the idea thought becomes the book written; until the stranger met becomes the friend made; until the soul lost

becomes the soul found.

Examples of Perseverance:

The Value of Perseverance can be found in every human endeavor pursued by people who want to succeed. You will find it in sports, music, learning, research, science, medicine, health, politics, business, innovation. You will find it amongst the young, the old, the challenged and the gifted.

Some Examples of Perseverance include:

The American Veteran, having returned back from War, having served their Nation with Honor. Many return with the scars of war; of mind and body.

The Researcher, in Medicine or Science; who perseveres until that cure is found for some terrible disease or a technology is found to improve the condition of humankind.

The Educator, who learns and teaches, and who passes on their inspiration, passion, and curiosity to the next generation.

The Runner in a long distance marathon.

Anti-Value: Resignation

The opposite of Perseverance is the act of Resignation: abandoning one’s goals, one’s principles, one’s commitments. Another way of saying it is: Simply Giving-up,

Surrendering, Relinquishing, Giving -In, or Just Plain Quitting.

Resignation is a weakness of one’s will; where yielding to pressure, stress, physical or mental challenge is preferred over persevering. Giving in, is preferable to focusing oneself to achieve,

to overcome, and to win.

A person who chooses resignation as their preferred choice of action; is most often looking for an easy way out. They choose failure over success, complacency over challenge, and defeat over achievement.

Generally, quitters are persons with weak willpower. They are typically indifferent, rarely a team player, often a bad follower, and never a leader.

Biblical References of Perseverance:

Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

James 1:23-25: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”