Been studying this lately and the whole book is a letter written to the Hebrews about sticking with their faith.
This was written to a group of Christians who had undergone difficult times, came together, survived them, but had more difficult times ahead of them. The author (sometimes attributed to Paul, but probably more to Barnabas, an associate and travel companion of Paul's, is most likely the author), encourages, exhorts and enumerates some guidelines for keeping together. The readers of Hebrews were threatened not to worship and practice their religion and were most likely buckling under that pressure - so more persecution was on the horizon.
The epistle is an encouragement to faith in various venues....enumeration of the "hall of fame" of prophets and people in the past who sacrificed; a list of things to be wary of; a list of things to strive for; and don't loose your focus and/or give up.
It's this last point that is of particular interest, although this whole book is worth reading if you think your focus is wavering; whether that be from lack of focus, chipping away of your resolve, laziness, overwhelming feelings of un-accomplishment/failures or feelings of unworthiness. This book just about covers everything in 13 chapters. I recommend reading through it with The Message (remember, I'm very liturgical, and this version seems to hit more at the meaning rather than some of the Bibles in the vernacular). Also, it's worth it if you are wanting a more in-depth study, to check out Greek Bible Study site that is marvelously interactive. You do have to sign up, but it is free and well worth it.
I'm not going to focus on all that (never fear - I won't bore you that badly!), but just on Chapter 12, which deals mostly with never giving up.
More than any other facet of the keeping-your-focus aspect of this process, never giving up is probably the most important, and the hardest. "The Madding Crowd" can be a very powerful seducement from your focus and therefore your goals. It's always there, and it always rears its ugly head. It is constantly a battle to deal with. For more on this, see the additional section below the bulk of this post.
So many great successes have succeeded strictly because they did not give up: Winston Churchill, Sam Walton, Colonel Sanders and Patrick Dennis, who said he shopped his book, Auntie Mame, to all publishers starting alphabetically and accepted by Vanguard Press - as he says, you can see how many refusals I had! There are a plethora of examples in my local industry (I live in the Energy Belt), where the boom and bust of the energy industry is commonplace, where 10 years ago, certain entrepreneurs purchased abnormally large quantities of oil and/or gas reserve rights, only to be scoffed at and pronounced the most idiotic, negligent and especially stupid throwing away of valuable funds that could have ever occurred in the history of entrepreneur-hood!!!! Today, they are all very successful and sit on multi-billion dollar companies that are thriving and growing and "blossoming" in this tough economic climate.
The point is that not only are you not alone. If you feel that your struggle is on and on and that you shouldn't/can't/ought not to go on - flush that thought down the toilet now! This is a very common occurrence in this process. You might be drawn off the fear a little by the comfort of knowing that many people have traveled this same road, and it is worth your time and effort to search out and draw from their experiences. Some of them are already gone, but have written down their struggles, some may be close at hand, and all you need to is reach out to them to ask how they traversed their path and what was the tough part and how they got through it to give you ideas and a new look for your own struggle.
The other point to take away from this philosophy of "never giving up" is that it is always the person who remains standing that succeeds - not necessarily because she/he is still standing but because this person always got back up again and kept trying; kept working toward her/his goals; kept going. If you keep your attitude to the point where you have the emotional/spiritual wherewithal to continually get up from discouragement after discouragement, you will succeed. I not only promise this, but I guarantee it.
Here's how. Because standing up from failure time and time again not only teaches you how to not err again (hopefully you are learning that lesson - if not, try Hebrews 10:26), but also that learning makes your chances of failure less every time. So that finally one of those times you stand up again, you do succeed.
Now this is just part of the process. This isn't the whole process, and please don't get discouraged. That's not the message I wish to convey here. What I want to do is inspire you to stay with the path you have chosen as your path. In addition to your affirmations, meditations, prayers and visualizations, staying on course is a valuable and important technique in your tool box toward realizing your dreams and goals
If you remember nothing else from Hebrews, and there's a lot to draw on, remember to never give up. And remember too, that you don't have to be brilliant to do this - just perseverant!
