(OPINION) The past several years have been troubling for a lot of us. A worldwide pandemic, financial burdens, political division, racial tensions … just surviving some days feels like a victory.

On April 10, 1960, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. In his address, titled “Keep Moving from This Mountain,” he encouraged the students to persevere and keep fighting for justice — especially within the student movement that was sweeping through the nation at the time. He ended his speech with a now famous quote: “If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.” 

During the civil rights movement, Black Americans fought Jim Crow laws for their most basic rights. They staged boycotts and sit-ins, displaying civil disobedience, and practiced individual forms of resistance such as moving into White neighborhoods and migrating north. Their persistent efforts were met with relentless violence. Still, they kept on.

King wrote his now-famous letter from the Birmingham jail to a group of White clergymen who had urged him to put a stop to acts of civil disobedience. After decades of vile injustice enacted upon Black Americans, King’s patience had run thin. He said, “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.”

King had been threatened, imprisoned and separated from his family and would eventually be killed. But the way he and other civil rights leaders saw it, they had two options: throw in the towel and resign to the status quo or persevere — press forward with renewed, persistent, unceasing efforts. 

Fortunately for America and our world, they chose the second option.

Today, like King, we have two options. 

Option one: We throw in the towel and resign to the status quo. For some of us, this takes the form of escaping into endless hours of mindless entertainment or social media. For others it might mean being glued to the 24-hour news cycle and complaining about what is happening but doing nothing about it.

Or, option two: We persevere. We move forward and use this season as a time to grow.

When we grow tired and weary, our first response is typically to want to give up. When our goals seem far away — perhaps as far away as a mountain top — our resolve can wane. We no longer have the energy, will or stamina to event want to fly. But it is at these times that we need to keep taking steps forward — regardless of whether those steps are great or small. We can’t give up. We may not always fly, but that doesn’t mean we can’t crawl. By whatever means we have, we need to keep moving. This is the essence of perseverance.

Perseverance isn’t just something we do. Through grace, perseverance does something to us. Persevering in difficult times changes us. Over time, perseverance causes us to mature.

When this season transitions to the next and today’s headlines are nothing but a memory, who will we be? Will we be the same people we were before, or will we be more mature, more just and more willing to stand up for others? Will we be people who seek escape (option one) or will we choose option two, like King and other civil rights leaders? Will we be people of perseverance?

The reason we persevere is because we know God has called us to do what is right. And we know that with God, we can overcome whatever difficulties, injustices or troubles we face. So when confronted with the choice of giving up or pushing through, remember to keep going.

This article is adapted from “Share the Dream: Shining a Light in a Divided World through Six Principles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” a new video Bible study co-hosted by Chris Broussard and Matthew Daniels.