February 12th

Perseverance



Invisible lines.
The fisherman repairs his net
And the fish are nearly caught.

If a fisherman does not have a properly repaired net, then his trip is useless. Preparation is the major part of his endeavor. Only when the fisherman keeps his nets intact, keeps his boat repaired, and studies the conditions of fish and water does going out to fish become a mere formality. Then fish fall into his hands as if guided by invisible lines.When it seems as if nothing encouraging is happening to us, it is important to remember such perseverance. Work may be drudgery, maintaining a home may be routine, and we may find our goals quite distant. But we must persevere and prepare nevertheless. That will bring a steady pace toward our goals, and buoy our faith in rough and threatening times.
To taste the fruit of perseverance requires maturity and experience. We need to cultivate patience, planning and timing. We build our resources even when circumstances seem to be against us. We don't neglect anything we have set in motion. If we nurse our plans through good times and bad, our plans will eventually succeed with the inevitability of fish caught in a net.

Personal Interpretation

It is easy to become discouraged, but we must not allow misfortune and failure to keep us from perfecting ourselves. Ultimately, preparation is the key to our success. Patience, planning, and timing are all things that lead to the attaining of the goals we have set for ourselves. We must learn when to do and when to observe instead. We should not give up on our dreams, but hold onto them firmly, through good and bad times alike. When we learn to persevere, we come to see that the process of reaching for our goals is more important than reaching those goals. Perseverance works to perfect us and it brings us closer to Tao.