- steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success
Few successes in life are achieved through quick actions and immediate results. For most things of meaning a path of dedication, time, patience and perseverance is required.
The concept of perseverance through tempests and tragedy easily springs to mind; in the fog of disease, depression and mourning the act of living may, in itself, speak to perseverance. But perseverance may also manifest in the most mundane of tasks; heading out to the garden at sunrise day after after, running that extra quarter mile, or even declining another round of food or drink. In truth, perseverance is often the handmaiden of another virtue: moderation.
The Dedicant Path is a perfect example of an undertaking achieved through perseverance - the work and documentation required extends, at minimum, over the course of half a year. For many dedicants the duration of work lasts much longer as the tasks of the DP are balanced against the responsibilities of family life and employment. Just as our relationships with friends and family are built, stone upon stone, upon shared experiences, warmth and hospitality so it is with our relationship with the Kindred. Only through perseverance will those stones accumulate to build a mountain.
“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” --Confucius