After a Failed Fighter Jet, France and Germany Face a Test of Perseverance

The summit’s language about a new defence dynamic only makes sense because an older plan collapsed. Merz and Macron are not meeting on the strength of a success; they are meeting after a common fighter jet project failed. The decision to pursue new joint defence-industry projects acknowledges that costly cooperation can stumble, while also refusing to treat the stumble as the end of the relationship.

That tension is familiar. Starting again carries the risk of another public disappointment, but walking away may leave both countries less secure and less able to shoulder shared responsibilities. No scripture line turns this summit into a sign of divine favor or guarantees that the next program will succeed. It speaks to a different posture: steadiness. The call to be strong and immovable is not a demand for heroic certainty; it is a refusal to let honest labor be defined by its worst outcome.

That kind of perseverance is quieter than triumph. It looks like returning to the table after embarrassment, with clearer eyes and less vanity. In our own work, failed plans can tempt us to cynicism: if the effort cost time, money, or trust, we may decide that trying again is naïve. But faithful work does not require success as its immediate proof. It asks us to keep doing responsible good with patience, humility, and hope, trusting that patient effort is not wasted in God’s sight.