Persistence Pays Off — Jody
Henry crosses the finish line
In a posting Monday I observed how the wisdom of Thomas Merton’s advice to “concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself” made sense in my life these days. Related to focusing on the “truth of the work itself” is persistence.
I have been acclaimed and defamed for being very persistent. When I had a business selling direct mail advertising, persistence really paid off. Sometimes it took me four or five years before a business customer would purchase an ad in our magazine. Once I had a customer I very seldom lost the customer to the competition. Persistence made me money.
In the social and political realm persistence can often be ignored or dismissed, but it is just as important. A good example happened today when the Marquette University Tribune, after many persistent efforts, published my viewpoint on Marquette University’s hosting military training on campus. See Viewpoint: ROTC has a place at Marquette. My message might still be ignored and dismissed by Marquette administrators, faculty, staff and students, but at least it will make the message harder to ignore and dismiss. Persistence might not bring the desired ‘result’ of teaching war no more at Marquette but it did pay off.
A friend who, like me, tends to have too much on his plate, called me today. As we were talking, we started to realize that it was not hard, persistent work that made us uneasy, but it was trying to do too much and having control over it that was bothering us. I joked at the end of the conversation how we must always see the big picture but work hard on the little piece of the picture we are working on and let the rest be.
Jesus says that if we ask something persistently we will get it. Persistence pays.
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