To the Persistent Goes the Prize
Part 1
It seldom occurs to us that whatever we persist with in our lives works to perfect the same, so that by allowing persistent negative thoughts and feelings to have their way with us, we unknowingly perfect self-punishment!
Part 2
As surely as raindrops have the power to make rivers or shape mountaintops, good fortune favors those who persist with their wish for what is Good.
The Power of Being Single-Minded
If we are to succeed at taking back authority over our lives, we must persist. After all, we have many years of wrong thinking and negative emotions to see through. As we become more familiar with the wrong powers that have been ruling our lives all along, we discover many disturbing things within. With these new discoveries, it may even feel sometimes as though we're getting worse, not better. In fact, everything we see is good for us. We're just beginning to face honestly how bad it has been all along, and that is the first step to real inner newness.
Many great spiritual teachers warn us not to fall for the trick of discouragement. We are told to face the rigors of the inner journey in good spirits. Vernon Howard told us we may have to knock on the door of Truth ten thousand times before it will answer. But it will answer, and then all the effort will be rewarded a thousandfold.
Imagine a man who hears that there is gold in the mountains, and goes in pursuit. Then, finding only three small flakes in what seems to him to be a very long time, declares that there is no gold to speak of and stops the search. In contrast to that foolish man, we should be delighted to have acquired those three flakes, and take that as all the encouragement we need to redouble our efforts. The reason we get discouraged is because we don't know the value of spiritual gold. The happy fact is that even one flake, when combined with another, yields something that is greater than the sum of the parts. We can take two spiritual facts, put them together, and come up with a new understanding that is much more powerful than either fact alone -- one that will speed us along on our journey home.
None of us knows how much spiritual gold we've gathered as a result of our sincere efforts. Nor do we know when those pieces will come together to form a new power. We must patiently continue with our work, secure in the knowledge that the coming of the self-victory we now seek is as much under law as is the certainty of our continued captivity if we remain the same.
There is tremendous power in having a single direction and persisting without wavering. Our enduring, fervent wish to understand higher principles invites the revelations that will eventually lead us to our higher, safe position. Our persistent desire for the Truth enables us to ultimately harness the energy of the universe. In that energy lies the authority to take back our lives.
