Persistence and patience are what is called for in our “instant everything society”.We expect to have things sooner, and faster. However, building character takes time and devotion.

When Harry and Ada Mae Day brought their first child, Sandra, home from the hospital, it was to a tiny ranch house without running water, electricity, or a school within driving distance. But they refused to let their surroundings limit them. His father’s death had kept Harry from attending Stanford University, but he never lost hope that his daughter would study there. Ada Mae subscribed to educational newspapers and magazines, home-schooled her daughter and later sent her to the best boarding schools in America. Sandra did attend Stanford, then law school, and eventually became the first woman Supreme Court justice in America. The day she was sworn in, she donned her robes and took her place among the other justices. Then she locked eyes with her family, and the tears began.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible says, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it’. What made Sandra Day O’Connor successful? Intelligence and ambition undoubtedly played a part. But much of the credit goes to a determined little woman sitting in a four-room clay house, reading to her daughter for hour upon hour. Persistence paid off.

Mr Peter Morphew
Reverend