“I
Quit!”
The Art of Perserverance
By Jerry
Graham
There comes a time in every leader's life when they just wonder why.
“Why am I doing this? Why am I putting up with all this conflict? Why do I keep
"hitting my head against this wall? Why did I ever think I was supposed to
do this?” Do any of those questions sound familiar to you?
As a Christian leader, do you ever find yourself questioning your call?
“Did I really hear God in this? If I did, where is He now? I feel so incredibly
alone. This vision has become a ten-ton weight on my head. Nobody else seems to
get it.”
When self-talk turns to self-abuse, it's time to remind yourself that
one of the key characteristics of a successful leader is persistence...or
perseverance, i.e., that ability to keep on keeping on. As Franklin Roosevelt
is quoted as saying, "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot
and hang on." Then there's the story about Winston Churchill's famous
(although historically inaccurate) speech, "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever,
ever, ever, give in. Never give in. Never give in. Never give in." Whether
true or not, the sentiment is totally accurate.
The "I quit!" mentality often starts after a major failure... or
maybe after the umpteenth major failure. When you're walking through that
so-called failure, it's hard to remember that failure is only a form of
feedback. It's hard to remember that God's view of failure is usually quite
different than our view of failure, e.g., see James 1:2-4.
Where is that God-given persistence that once was so strong that allowed
us to learn to walk after hundreds of "failures?" How many times did
you fall off a bicycle while learning to ride it? Why is it that our failure
threshold seems to go down exponentially as we mature? Whose voice do you
suppose we are really listening to?
Failure and
Quitting
Remember that failure only comes when you quit. Therefore, the best
insurance against failure is perseverance. Of all the characteristics of
success that you can name, none rises to the height of perseverance. It trumps
them all. Someone once said, in a probable reference to Eccl. 9:11, "The
race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running."
This article is not meant to trivialize the difficulty associated with
perseverance during the heat of the battle. But it is helpful to know that one
of the functions of a trained, professional coach is to walk with you through
some of those battles and help you view those often difficult circumstances
through a different paradigm, i.e., one who believes in you and in your ability
to overcome and preserve to the finish line. Life is intended to be a team
sport...don't try to go it alone. Get a coach!
Jerry Graham is a certified coach and coach trainer who helps pastors
and ministry leaders become the leaders they were meant to be. Meet Jerry at www.TheCoachingPair.com or www.CoachingPastors.com/Graham.htmll.