Truth and Love Persist!

Persistence — what an important quality that is! I remember as a child, my dad had a quote from Calvin Coolidge on his desk, and it is this: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

I remember, even as a child, thinking, well yes, one could have talent, and education, and genius. These things, however, may not be available to all. But, the one thing everyone can have is persistence. That is a quality of God, and it is given to all of us, so it really doesn’t matter so much about all these other things. Persistence is what is important! And what is persistence? It’s sticking to the task at hand. What motivates that persistence? It has to be love, because if you don’t love, you’ll get tired and just give up. But if it’s love, love for God, love for mankind, you will persist.

I was thinking of those of us who are still left in our church who went through the times of trial here. We’re not special people, but why are we still here and others are not? Persistence, it’s just that simple. We didn’t give up, and we also had a great love for Mrs. Eddy, for Christian Science, and for what this church had to offer. So even though there were many trials, many temptations to give up, to turn around, to go back, we didn’t. We persisted.

So, in many ways, when Calvin Coolidge says it’s omnipotent, it is Omnipotent, because it is from God Almighty. He gives it to all His people. And those who use it and persist, win the crown. Mrs. Eddy has said, “Truth persists, error does not.” So we can all persist with the Truth, a quality of God to get us where we need to be and keep us there!