The dancer, the hunter... and the power of perseverance

When I went downstairs this morning to make my cup of coffee, I found a dead grasshopper lying at the entrance to my kitchen. I have no idea how the insect got into my grass-free back yard, but I have a pretty good idea how it wound up dead at the kitchen door.

Tobi and Tamba are the hunters in our house, but Tobi is the most zealous and she has a particular talent for catching insects. Flies, mosquitoes, wasps or bees... she'll sit patiently for ages, watching them flaunt their presumed invincibility by flying around just out of reach. Then, at the opportune moment, she'll make her move and pounce on the unsuspecting insect, trapping it between her two front paws. If she misses it the first time, she'll simply persevere - watching and waiting until the next opportunity comes along and the fly or mosquito meets its doom! She might wait a long time, but she pretty much always gets her prey. Tobi is a sterling example of the power of patience and perseverance (and she's way better than those fly traps and anti-moquito devices that people use in the summer months!!)

I learned another lesson in perseverance this week - while working with Tobi's big brother. He's twice her size, but he's not so interested in hunting. His easy-going personality makes him an ideal cat for learning tricks and, since we started training at the end of February, Teddi has learned twenty different tricks. (Tobi learned one, but she obviously wasn't impressed by the experience and I realised she wouldn't show Teddi's cooperation and eagerness for further trick training.) 

Teddi learned some of his tricks in just a day or two, while others took several weeks to master. There was one trick, however, that I suspected he might never do on command: back in May, I began teaching him to "spin" - like the "dancing" dogs do in the canine freestyle competitions. For six months we've plugged away at the spin - and he learned a dozen new tricks in the meantime - but it seemed he would only spin if lured by a treat, and not in response to a verbal command or a hand signal. Then suddenly, out of the blue, a few days ago he began to spin very competently when given the command. I realised that six months of perseverance had paid off and that the trick was now well and truly in his memory and in his repertoire. (Don't worry; I'm not planning to teach him any more dance moves like the dogs do. You won't see us on Britain's Got Talent!!) But you can see the long-awaited spin in the 20 second video clip below.

Teddi's sudden breakthrough got me thinking about all the other areas in life where we might need to persevere over a long period of time. It might be persevering in prayer and not giving up when we don't see the answer right away. It might be persevering in learning a foreign language or a musical instrument, or some other skill that requires a lot of practice. It might mean trying again and again when we're trying to break a bad habit or mend a broken relationship. It might be something very practical like losing weight or getting fit. There are lots of things in life that can take months or even years before we suddenly notice a difference; how often do we miss out on that breakthrough because we got discouraged and stopped persevering?

I can't tell you how many times I thought perhaps it'd be best to abandon the "spin" practising and devote our efforts to something "easier" - something that would bear fruit more quickly. Giving up isn't such a big deal if all you were trying to do was teach a trick to a cat. But there are areas in life where giving up can make a big difference for now and for eternity. In what areas do you need to apply the power of perseverance in these last months of 2013?

Enjoy the dancer… :-)