There’s a story about a traveller who met a wise man along the road and asked him, ‘Where’s the road to success?’ The wise man didn’t speak but instead pointed to a place off in the far distance. The traveller, thrilled at the prospect of quick and easy success, rushed off in that direction. When – splat! Down he went! He limped back, bruised and stunned. Assuming he must have misinterpreted the message, he repeated his question, and again the philosopher pointed silently in the same direction. So the traveller took off once more. This time the splat was deafening. Crawling back bruised, broken, and irate, he shouted at the wise man, ‘I asked you which way is success! I followed the direction you indicated, and all I got was splattered! No more pointing – talk!’ Only then did the wise man speak. ‘Success is that way. It’s just a little beyond the splat.’ The fact is, all of us have experienced ‘the splat’ – that moment when we fall, or hit an obstacle that stops us in our tracks. There’s no way to avoid it. But it’s what we do after the splat that makes all the difference. And perseverance always wins. The Bible says: ‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ Champion racer Rick Mears is attributed with saying: ‘To finish first, you must first finish.’ So if we fall, we need to get up again and keep going. American educator Hamilton Holt said: ‘Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish results that last.’ So today, let’s resolve to keep persevering, and keep going past our ‘splat’ moments.

What Now?

Draw a splat shape, and inside it write the words of Hebrews 12:1. Keep your drawing to help you persevere whenever you experience a ‘splat’ moment.