I would never call myself a patient or persistent person. I’m forever in search of the epiphany, the dramatic transformation, the a-ha.  

But this week, reading Norman Fischer’s book “Taking our Places: The Buddhist Path to Growing up,” I’m getting schooled. (This book is almost unbearably good, by the way. I recommend adding it to your holiday reading stack.) Norman says, 

“Persistence bears you up and helps you move forward against the odds. In fact, with the practice of persistence, odds don’t matter much one way or the other. When you dedicate yourself to showing up, to coming back over and over again to a situation or relationship regardless of how it seems to be going, when you seem to be strengthened by frustration rather than frightened off by it, a serenity begins to set in. You see that producing or avoiding any particular outcome isn’t really the point. Simply being there is the point…Mature people know the sheer power of simply showing up.” 

Wow. 

Of course, I also believe in the wisdom and power of quitting, and in knowing when life is nudging us another direction. But Instagram seems to be overflowing with tips on manifestation, boundary-setting, and changing your life’s direction. Maybe that’s why I’m hungry for a different prescription. Parker Palmer says,  

“We must judge ourselves by a higher standard than effectiveness, the standard called faithfulness. … Are we faithful to the call of courage that summons us to witness to the common good, even against great odds? When faithfulness is our standard, we are more likely to sustain our engagement with tasks that will never end: doing justice, loving mercy, and calling the beloved community into being.”  

There is no “checking off” things like justice, love, mercy, and connection. But there is showing up, again and again, in whatever ways you can, to the curriculum of our own lives. Saying “yes” to the hard things even though we can never achieve them. 

In reading my writing through the years, I see that I return constantly to this theme, probably because it is so hard for me to practice! I’m blessed to witness the sacred persistence of many in my orbit: 

  • Jackie, the ED of The Hope Project, raising money and employing Liberian teachers to care for and educate 1500 students (stay tuned for my newsletter next week where I’ll share about my upcoming trip there!) 
  • An employee at my fave bookstore, Village Books, who has spent the year crocheting scarves for unhoused people 
  • My son Wyatt designing an endurance bike event,  The Transverse Traverse, to raise money for Gaza (spread the word to your hard-core biking friends!) 
  • Everyone who is sandbagging, raising money, and helping each other out during the historical flood event that is happening in my region 
  • My friend Aimee, working on behalf of asylum-seekers in King County, her every move in direct defiance of a national administration seeking to deport, alienate, and abandon those who need refuge most 
  • Two executive directors I am working with who are staying past their given notice to support leadership transitions 

It is thrilling when we are effective, but life is not a superhero movie. Things usually don’t turn out the way we want them to, or they take much longer than we anticipated. One definition of suffering is “unwanted experiences.” That’s where persistence comes in. May you find the strength to keep showing up to yourself. And then to the people and situations that depend on you. I am cheering you on.