“Perseverance does not consist in never falling, but in always raising ourselves up again.” — Georges Chevrot
My dad is a man of sayings. He has a knack for words of wisdom that are succinct and memorable, some of his own, some borrowed.
One he told my brother and me throughout our lives goes something like this: a man is not measured by how many times he falls down, but by how many times he gets back up.
Chevrot is saying the same thing.
Perseverance isn’t the absence of failure. It’s the refusal to stay down. And like all virtue, it requires God’s grace — but there’s also a very human element to it. A willingness. A decision, made again and again, to get back up.
This is what Peter’s life shows us. His story in the Gospels is almost a literal picture of the spiritual life — moments of greatness followed immediately by falling flat on his face. Pinnacle moments and failures, sometimes on the same page. And yet he keeps getting up.
The only way you lose is by giving up.
Let us pray. Lord, when we fall — give us the grace and the will to get back up. Again and again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
This reflection is part of a series based on Simon Peter: Lessons from the First Pope by Georges Chevrot — a hidden gem I’d highly recommend. If you’re a reader who enjoys discovering lesser-known books on faith, prayer, and the spiritual life, hit reply or drop a like. I have a few ideas around this kind of content and would love to know if there’s interest before I go further with it.
