General Stuff

The wisdom of Dory

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Finding Nemo is one of my favorite movies.

In it, we meet Dory, a fun little blue fish with short-term memory loss voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. Dory is probably my favorite character in the movie, and I’m not alone. Most rankings of the move characters by popularity have Dory at the top or close to the top.

My favorite line from my favorite character? A delightful 3 word song: Just keep swimming.

The world isn’t going to change in a day. A book (especially my book) isn’t going to be written in a day. Your house isn’t going to be decluttered in a day.

But all those things can happen when all those things happen on a whole lot of days. This is what the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, was trying to communicate when he said:

“The essential thing in heaven and earth is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.”

[Tweet “Want to achieve greatness? Establish a standard and stick with it.”]

Want to achieve greatness? Establish a standard and stick with it. Like, for a really long time. Learn how to live with “a long obedience in the same direction.”

Or, to quote Dory, “Just keep swimming.”

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February 13, 2021by Paul Jenkins
Written by Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins is lead pastor of The Gathering, a community church located in beautiful downtown Albemarle, North Carolina. He's the author of God is My Air Traffic Controller and My Name's Not Lou. Paul is passionate about his wife, his 3 children, running, reading, coaching, leading people who are following Jesus, Swedish Fish and the Carolina Panthers.