Enduring to the End

Enduring to the end is a fundamental principle of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, but the concept itself comes straight from the Bible.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matthew 24:9-13)

This is something I've lived by my entire life ... or at least I try. I don't know how many times I've been surrounded by people who said, "This is impossible," only for me to take it as a challenge. Sometimes it takes an all-nighter, but I find great pleasure in the end when I deliver and people say, "How did you do that?"

Once at work, we were asked to present our data in a new format. I'm talking millions of data points and very little time to compile it for submission. To do it manually would take days. My superiors went to a professional contractor and asked how long it would take them to create an automated process. They said, "18 months, and it's going to cost you a lot of money." When my boss told me that, I said, "Are you kidding me? I could do it much faster than that." In a couple of weeks I had a fully functional system going. Of course I had people helping me, but it was my code that writes code that writes code that made it all work. There was even an all-nighter in there ... till 1AM on a Friday evening with superiors looking over my shoulder in anticipation. But we beat every single one of our competitors -- we were the only one to be able to present our data in the correct format by the Saturday meeting, while every other company was asking, "How do we do this?" I (and my partner in crime) got a personal thank you note from the CEO.

This type of persistence has helped me succeed in life. But I'll admit -- it's so easy to get tired. How many times have you gauged the amount of effort it would take and then decide to go watch TV or play video games? I think it happens to all of us. And I'm certain that every single one of you readers has had similar experiences where you've gone the extra mile to accomplish that special project. Or perhaps even when you saw how to accomplish something when no one else could.

When it comes to spiritual matters, though, sometimes I feel I fall short. I can think of a long list of tasks that I don't do. I'm not the best "ministering brother." I don't read my scriptures every day. I don't always say prayers before eating. Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing my opportunity to succeed in these matters. I really hate check lists (as I've mentioned before), but I really love challenges. In spiritual matters, I think I'm doing okay, but I could always do better. Am I "enduring to the end"?

I think the biggest lesson I've learned is simply this: Don't give up. As long as you're trying, you're "enduring." We'll always fall short in some areas. Nobody is perfect. It's only when we give up that we guarantee failure.

So, if you want to endure to the end, just don't give up. Keep on trying. And then eventually success will follow.