I served in the Financial Sales Industry for 13 years until resigning to evangelize and to teach others how to evangelize. Throughout those years as an advisor I attended as many training seminars and conferences as possible. One of them was led by a man named Tom. It was the most impactful seminar of them all.
Tom was a corporate leader for one of the very best insurance companies in the world. From throughout the span of his more than 30 year career, he had the privilege to rub shoulders with many of the world’s most successful men and women. Tom knew them and he knew what it was that made them successful. Nearly every speaker and his dog would say the same thing, but Tom was different. There was something in the way he spoke, something in the way he carried himself that set him apart from all the others. This is what he said:
“The only thing that these highly successful people have that sets them apart from you are four things, that’s it, only four things that they have that you don’t have: attitude, commitment, passion, and desire.”
Attitude: they have the tenacious attitude to push forward, despite adversity--despite a natural aversion to being tested by fire (1Peter 1:7), they run to it knowing it will make them better;
Commitment: they made a commitment to themselves and to their loved ones that they will be the best and there’s nothing that will hinder their resolve;
Passion: they believe in what they do with every fibre of their being;
Desire: they want it more than anything.
I summarize all four into one word: Grit.
These same four principals should be applied to our spiritual lives and our relationship with Jesus. Look at the Saints--those same four things are the only things they had (and I’ll speak for myself here) that I don’t have.
I have often begged God to make me a Saint, but how bad do I really want it? I say I want it, but so often I’ve only appreciated the idea of Sanctity rather than the grit required to make it happen.
When I am confronted with the pleasure of sin, what do I want more: this fleeting pleasure, or the grit required to push through temptation? When I’m confronted with the idea of getting up early to pray with scripture, or pray the Rosary, or fasting for the day … am I willing to embrace the grit I need to get it done, or will I acquiesce into the stagnant Sea of Doing Nothing?
When St. Peter reminds us to “gird up your minds, be sober” it’s exactly this Grit that he’s referring to.