Ask and ask and ask and ask again

The difference between someone who gets what she wants and one who doesn't is the willingness to keep on asking until one gets that desired "YES" answer. All young children seem to instinctively know this. What child doesn't badger parents until they relent? We seem forget to forget as we become older how powerful this tactic is--or we consider it a childish antic that we must give up.

There is a story in the Bible--Luke 18: 1-7--where a widow went continually to an unjust judge asking him to avenge her of her adversary. He eventually gave into her saying, "Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me."

Sometimes to get to that yes we want we need to take a different route. Nephi and his brothers in the Book of Mormon had to try a variety of methods before they were finally able to obtain the brass plates from Laban that they had been sent to do.

Nephi's brothers, Laman and Lemuel, were ready to give up when the first try didn't work. Then when the second try didn't work they were even more adamant about giving up the errand. Nephi stayed focused on the goal and wasn't about to accept defeat no matter how many "No's" he had to overcome.

One reason we may choose not to be persistent is because we don't want to weary someone with our request. As children we could have cared less if the other person became weary or not. We knew what we wanted. Needless to say, it probably wouldn't be to our advantage to be childish when persistently seeking a yes to a request, but if we can recapture that childlike trait and engage it in a mature way, many more doors will open for us to achieve our goals and desires, especially when they are for a higher cause than ourselves--such as wanting to better serve our diverse learners.