Persistence is a superpower

There are lots of sexy gifts that we wish we had: wisdom, charisma, strength or acuity.  They are characteristics of the successful and powerful, the characteristics we associate with being better and doing better.  Persistence is not sexy.

Courage is sexier than persistence. We admire courage although if we are wise and honest, we hope that we won't need courage very much or very often. Courage is a gift that means you're in big trouble and it will probably hurt before it gets better. Courage is sometimes so like persistence that they might be twins.

Persistence is the quiet twin, the one who knows how to make herself inconspicuous when the company arrives. She is often found with her equally undesirable cousin, Patience.  The two are hard to notice and yet, when we look we find them both wherever people are able to maintain success. You might be lucky once, but if you are lucky repeatedly, it's because you have made room for persistence.

I think if I were a fairy godmother standing over a cradle, persistence is the gift I might give. I would give it knowing that the child I blessed would often feel cursed by my gift.  I would give it because I would suspect that when all the other gifts are hidden in the dark, persistence just keeps moving, a little at a time, until the light appears.

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