Phelan over at A Homesteading Neophyte  gave me a perseverance award.  Thank you so much.  I saw your post earlier this week and was overwhelmed by it, it never ceases to amaze me how things happen in a Godly time.

I was feeling rather moody earlier this week.  Like anyone, with lots of dreams and goals, I get discouraged sometimes.  Sometimes I feel like everything is so far out of reach.  I begin to wonder if I can possibly accomplish everything I dream of, can Jeff and I make all those silly late night “pipe dreams” come true?  I try not to dwell on those thoughts, because I do believe the greater part of life is made up of my disposition not my circumstances.  I don’t write about those thoughts often either, not because I don’t have them, but because I sometimes fear that putting them down on paper, or the computer screen, somehow gives them more validity than if I just let them run their course in my mind, eventually I get tired of those thoughts and just move on.  Phelan’s award came at a time when I needed to remember that life does require a lot of perseverance sometimes.  Sometimes we just have to put our heads down, get to work, and suck it up. Is it always pleasant?  No.  Is it worth doing?  Absolutely.

In the words of Adrian Monk, “here’s the thing:” the best things in life seem to come by hard work in my opinion.  I’ve accomplished a ton, and want to accomplish a lot more.  However, no matter what, I’m incredibly blessed and if this is the best that life gets, so be it.  I’ve already got it much better than a good percentage of the world, and I know it.  Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am a very spoiled American woman who has been incredibly blessed and I shouldn’t take that for granted for one millisecond.

The good thing about not taking it for granted is that I can suck it up and persevere, because honestly, I’m good at that.  I’m not bragging, its true.  I know and have known for a long time, that no one is going to hand me my dreams, so while I may not make them all come true - I’ll die trying and I’ll persevere until I’m on my death bed, because I believe without that, I’m not really alive anyway.

Phelan passed the award onto 5 other bloggers and I’m going to do the same.  While many bloggers inspire me, just check out my 5 Friday Favorite posts, these 5 in particular have inspired me in their own perseverance at various times over the years: