I believe in perseverance, the will
to keep going, to see the future, push not pull and run without turning back.
As a student it is hard to comprehend the future beyond the individual moments of
my life, but with experience I know there is a future, and if I can just get
through my immediate hardships I can realize that future in its full glory.
Yet
I do not believe the future is some distant dream where all my goals become
reality- in fact, I have already experienced many futures, many realities. Each
one required perseverance, in one form or another. When I injured my hip in the
winter of 2010, then tore my ACL the next spring, I certainly encountered daunting
hardships. To this day I walk around with the scars of those injuries, both
physical and mental, daily reminders of the adversities I had to transcend. But
persevere I did, even in the face of grueling pain, incessant recovery and even
a questioning of my own faith. And when it was all over, I finally achieved my
goal and made the high school junior varsity soccer team in the spring of 2011.
The
next year I failed to make the school’s varsity squad, and so I face yet another
hardship. But persevere I must, for I know that my prior achievements will be
joined by my future accomplishments, and with that belief and a belief in my all-loving
God I can embrace the near occasion of hardship.