We live in an instant age. And the truth is, many of us don’t live in it, we survive in it. A battleground of conflicting expectations, habits and desires, life for many of us only becomes more frenetic and less controlled as its pace increases.

If you’re like me, you don’t want to be on this rollercoaster. We want to walk, Jesus-like, across life’s troubled waters. We want to sit like Ghandi, serene and composed, as battle rages around us. We want a life with purpose and direction. Our purpose, Our direction; not imperatives imposed by advertising and societal mores.

And we want these fundamental changes right now. We’re imbued with the character of this instant age whose dynamics we want to escape. When change isn’t immediate, we get discouraged and often drop the ball on the very practices that will make that change a reality.

In my experience, the biggest obstacle to change is pushing past the failures without giving up. I plan to practice three times a week. A month later I look back and see it’s three weeks since I last practiced. When that happens it’s easy for us to get discouraged and give up. But, because we’re determined, we start again … and again … only to find each time that we’ve not measured up to our own goals.

In church 25 years ago I heard a sermon that’s stayed with me. The preacher was not an erudite Bible scholar – Colin was a carpenter by trade, an elder in the congregation. The title of his message was “Pressure Brings Points”, and its theme was that most success doesn’t come through strategy or cleverness, it comes through not giving up. It’s a message I took to heart, and one that life has often proven to be true.

Why does it work? I think there are many factors. One is that pressing on in the face of failure builds moral fortitude. Another, that even in failure these practices are making us more aware of the decisions we make and their consequences. There are many more factors, including the development of humility and discovering the unreasonableness of determination.

It’s a slow miracle. One day we look back and realise it’s three weeks since we missed a practice, yet we can’t put our finger on what’s different. What’s different is us. If character can be said to have molecules, persistence changes our character at a molecular level. It always does this … but never instantly.

So don’t give up. Hang in there for the miracle.