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Meg Wheatley, patience, perseverance, persistence, steadfastness, tenacity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I was reading the “Saint of the Day” entry on http://www.franciscanmedia.org, the word perseverance jumped out at me. Given that we come up against situations almost daily now where that could be the catch phrase, I decided to consult Margaret Wheatley who wrote a whole book under that title. Not surprisingly, I found a reflection on the word—the concept—immediately on page 3. Here then is my simple, but seemingly quite apt, reflection for today.
Meg writes: The word “perseverance” in Latin means “one who sees through to the end,” “one who doesn’t yield.” In English, it describes how we maintain our activity in spite of difficulties. Tenacity, steadfastness, persistence, doggedness — these are all common synonyms.
In Chinese, the character for perseverance is the same as the one used for patience.
Human experience is the story of perseverance. Throughout space and time, humans have persevered. We wouldn’t be here without them.
There you have it: three simple statements to help us through the day. May we all continue to persevere in this time of trial and opportunity.