"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won.” Mahatma  Gandhi  

    We often think of persistence in terms of drudgery – a sort of forced march to our goal in the midst of high hardship. Sometimes this is true.

   The path to any important purpose requires that we swim against the tide. The goal always lies in the darkest part of the woods – the place that needs the light, the territory where most lack the courage to travel.

   But, Mark Twain’s words on work are just as true. Look carefully to this insight: “The work that is really a man’s [sic] own work is play and not work at all.” (italics added.)

   How can hard work become "play?" We know we are engaged in our true calling when our work brings us joy. This doesn’t mean we enjoy every single moment. There will always be thorns amid roses.

  Sacred work is fed from within us by a deep sense of energy. We tap this energy when we open our lives to God's Love. Aligning our lives with our true calling enables us to capture the energy of  persistence. This alignment explains why Gandhi, Mother Thersa, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, and countless anonymous caregivers, have been able to persist against odds others would find impossible.

  The energy of persistence enables people to climb Mount Everest, to explore unknown territories, to enter dangerous slums to help the poor, and to endure poverty and depression to create great art. It enables accomplishments which seem superhuman because the energy is not from the person but from God's Love. 

   Among the most courageous examples of leadership in all history is found in the fifty-year journey of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi began standing up for the oppressed in South Africa in 1893. He moved his struggle to India in 1915. It took him thirty-three more years to lead hundreds of millions of his fellow Indians into the bright land of freedom from British rule and oppression.

   During the last twenty-five years of his struggle, Gandhi led exclusively with the use of non-violence and civil disobedience. 

   In the fashion of Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Catholic nuns, Buddhist monks and others who put aside worldly comforts, Gandhi, a Hindu, surrendered his life to God's Love. He endured imprisonment, long periods of fasting, and personal beatings to respond to God's calling.

  The struggles of people like Gandhi (bending forward in photo during the famous "Salt March" to protest British taxes) may sometimes seem far removed from caregiving. Yet, Gandhi
exemplifies caregiving at its finest. His advocacy led to dignity and better living conditions for hundreds of millions of people. His humility was legendary (he wore his simple draping of white cloth on all occasions, even when he met British royalty.) His example of persistence in the face of odds that seemed impossible makes him a superb example of the energy of persistence.

   Gandhi's life helps highlight one way to look at a layered truth that describes the differences between other life choices versus living Love:   

• Mediocrity is the path of those who have no purpose, no motivation and a deep apathy toward the gift of life. They live ignoring God's Love.
• Average is characterized by work that lacks inspiration. Still, "average" involves performing dutifully if not exceptionally. It is limited by doing only what is required and never more. This approach is practiced by an astonishing number of hospital and hospice CEOs.
• Excellence is seen in those who have a sincere commitment to doing well and constantly work to excel. However, they sometimes rely on gifts of ego instead of trusting God's Love.  
• Radical Love: The struggles of Gandhi show us that the energy of persistence is essential to expressing God's Love. Lovers – those who truly live Love – enter a sacred territory, a sanctuary that exists at the highest peak of life. From this peak, they touch the hem of God.

   Each of us can Live love. As we seek the Loving life, the biggest obstacle is always the interference of ego – our pride in thinking we are the ones who have done great things instead of recognizing that Radical Love comes through us, not from us.

   All of us, saints included, are vulnerable to surrendering to the pride which ego fosters. Every so often come times when we let go of ego. It is then that we feel God's presence, even if only for a moment.  

-Rev. Erie Chapman