“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistance.”

Ovid

Never underestimate the power of each tiny step you take forward…

Even – and actually, ESPECIALLY(!) – those you take after a setback of any kind.

They are all heading in the right direction, regardless of their motivational source…

And yes, this means even the ones that might seem to go backwards…as they have lessons for us as well. As we continually reset our focus on what we want to bring to our own lives, we will find over time that our steps create first a groove, then a channel, perhaps later a trough or even a crevasse. The power here lies in the time spent in persistance…and persistence always means forward motion.

I am reminded of basketball coach Jimmy Valvano’s deeply moving and uplifting speech in 1993 when he passionately stated,

“Don’t give up. Don’t EVER give up.”

…a rousing statement coming from the soul of a man who had every excuse to do so, as he was battling terminal cancer with a handful of months to live.

Where does such conviction come from, especially at those times when things seem so impossibly insurmountable?

When we would certainly receive no judgement from anyone for finally laying down our heavy load?

Jimmy Valvano did not have the word “Quit” in his vocabulary. His words and actions throughout his life only and ever shone with vibrant faith, filled with the energy of love for the moment and with his signature passion for all he did…and for each person whose life he touched.

Jimmy V lived his life continuously reflecting the power of the drop of water upon a stone.

Jimmy V’s Speech

When we learn to take every event, every comment, every circumstance…

Choosing to see and then use these not as deterrents or excuses, but instead as single stepping stones towards our goal…

Then we have acquired the persistent power of the single drop of water upon a solid rock.

Our tasks may often seem as impossibly hard and unresisting as a stone…

And certainly none of us are exempt from these Stones.

But the water drop only sees the stone as the place it lands… the place where it happens to be right now. It cannot be anywhere else at this moment, so it drops exactly THERE.

Each drop, then, is symbolic of the importance that Now has for each of us. “Now” is that singular Spot on the Stone where we do our work, where we carve our hollow…

Slowly, persistently creating the smoother, more rounded landing for our every thought, word or action…

The rougher edges patiently eroded by our persistance.

Choose one Stone in your life.

Regard its shape.

It may be new and craggy…

Or it may be older, with some areas just beginning to smooth out.

Now see yourself as this Single Drop.

You alone choose HOW you land on the Stone and WHAT you are using to wear it down.

We may choose to drip with the power of

Gratitude

Faith

Love

Patience

Hope

Peace

Joy

Compassion…

Create your own list as you “drop on your Stone.”

But it is always up to us, whichever powers we choose to embody in each and every moment.

To drop requires no force, no pushing. The drop becomes full enough and it must let go. It does not question or decide to hold on longer. It releases because it is time.

Is there a place in your life where the drop is poised, ready to let go?

The repetition of persistence is the motivation for us to release each drop. We must let go to make way for the next one…

And the next one.

For it is only when we release one drop that we are enabled to strike the stone…

Again and again…

Creating opportunities for the growth and healing that are essential to our very existence.

So notice your Stone.

Choose Now

To Be the Drop…

That does not Stop .