Posts Tagged: courage
“Courage in Little Bits”
The verse of the day in the YouVersion Bible App is Joshua 1:9. “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (New Living Translation)
Joshua needed some courage for sure. Moses had died, and Joshua was to lead the Children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. What a task!
I used to think of Joshua as very courageous. However, now that I’ve actually slowed down and looked at the text, I’m not so sure. God has to tell Joshua (three times in chapter 1 alone) that he is to be strong and courageous (verses 6, 7, and 9). At the end of this chapter, some of the leaders of the tribes also tell Joshua to be strong and courageous. Would a courageous person need to be told so often to be courageous?
Well, maybe we all need encouragement in that regard. I am told that there are approximately 365 commands in the Bible to not be afraid. This sounds like the flip side of the command to be courageous. (I haven’t counted them myself to see if there really are 365 of them. This may be an old preacher’s tale.)
There is a lot that could be said about this command in Joshua 1:9. Here are a few observations.
- Apparently, courage is not a feeling. It is a command, and feelings can’t be commanded. So, a command relates to action.
- A command implies that the one doing the commanding is in a position of authority.
- A command implies that the one receiving the command has only two choices: either to obey the command or not.
- Notice that the command is related to meditating in the Law of the LORD and careful obedience/doing of what God says (vss. 7-8). We might think of courage as relating to military prowess. No, it is not. Courage is instead about obeying God.
- Courage comes in many forms. For Joshua, I don’t doubt that it took courage to refuse to lose his temper when some of the Ephraimites (from his own tribe, no less!) whined that they hadn’t been given enough land (Joshua 17:14-18). Sometimes, putting up with a whiny extended family takes as much courage as conquering a city!
My last observation leads me to an application which is stretching Joshua 1:9. I hope that it isn’t stretching the text too far. Here is my application. It may or may not fit you. I suspect that we need courage even for little things.
To hold your tongue when you would like to use it as a lash, to eat in a healthy manner, to write a blog post when you’re not sure you have anything to say—these and a thousand other small things require us to choose courage every day. Courage is not reserved for soldiers and fire fighters. It is required of us all.
Courage in little bits is the name of the game. That is what our lives consist of mostly.
“A Very Serious Teeter-Totter!”
A good friend of mine, in an accountability-support phone call yesterday made some intriguing comments about his core values. He spoke of courage and discipline, which are balanced by wisdom and compassion. He pictures these qualities as if they are a teeter-totter. For him, learning is the fulcrum.
I am not sure precisely what he means, but those words and the image of the teeter-totter has been marinating in my brain for the past twenty-four hours. Here is the current flavor of my thoughts about these qualities and the fulcrum.
Let me take a stab at the first two core values—courage and discipline. My first observation would be this: I don’t really know what these words mean, and I’m not sure that I want to know what they mean. Courage and discipline sound scary and costly to me.
I googled “courage” and found this definition at https://www.google.com/search?q=define+courage&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS844US844&oq=define+courage&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9.3232j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
“cour·age
noun
- the ability to do something that frightens one.
‘she called on all her courage to face the ordeal’
- strength in the face of pain or grief.
‘he fought his illness with great courage’”
I suspect that the first step in cultivating courage is admitting that I’m afraid. And I am very much afraid to admit that. I would sooner admit that I am angry than to admit that I am afraid. (Typical man!)
Perhaps I could begin with some small fears and work my way up. Okay. Let me begin right now!
I am afraid of . . . Wow! I’m having a difficult time thinking of any little fears. All the ones that come to mind seem big. Hummm . . .
Perhaps I should just move on to discipline. To paraphrase a saying of Jesus, “If they persecute you in one word, flee to another.”
Discipline! I don’t like that word either. But perhaps, discipline is courage in the small things. Maybe discipline prepares me to develop some courage.
I use these blog posts, not just to write, but to grow. So, here is what I am going to pledge to you, myself, and God: Today, I will make disciplined choices about what I eat. I will eat only healthy foods today. That is about as much discipline as I can probably muster. I will let you know how I did tomorrow in my post.
“Living Courageously in a Time of Pandemic”
There are two ways that the coronavirus kills: by physically destroying humans, and by fear. The second method may well be the most effective.
My wife is visiting her mom in a nursing home. Nursing homes are a wonderful breeding ground for the coronavirus. I am worried and afraid.
I journaled, and then read what I had written. And I communicated these fears to my sponsors in my morning report. One of them got back to me with a phone call that helped me to get the fear under God’s control. And I texted a friend and asked him to pray for me, for my wife, and for all concerned. I ended my text as follows:
“Thanks for reading this. I feel better now, having gotten some confused and confusing feelings out in the open. I think I’m already feeling less confused and fearful. And you haven’t even prayed yet!”
“Today’s Affirmation: Today, by God’s grace, I will live a courageous life. I will not fear perhapses.”
Courage is not the same thing as a careless attitude or actions. Prudent precautions aren’t cowardice. It takes some courage, even to be cautious.
However, fear is no one’s friend. And courage is a good friend these days, and every day. We should prepare for possibilities and probabilities, but we can and should live without perhapses.
“Vulnerable Courage”
Here is my journal entry from this morning:
Friday, April 26, 2019
I listened to Brenè Brown on Netflix yesterday evening. A bit salty in her language, but very good. (Also, she is very funny, which doesn’t hurt her talk at all.) Based on her talk, two good questions to ask myself are these: Am I showing up in the arena? Am I throwing my entire self into this?
Here is my 12-step affirmation for today: “Today, by God’s grace, I am entering the arena. I don’t have to win. I do have to (and get to) throw my entire heart, soul, and mind into the battle. And I am doing precisely that.”
I teach my final exegesis of Isaiah face-to-face class today, from 9:00 until 5:00. I am not as prepared as I would like to be. Or, at least, I don’t feel as prepared as I should be. However, I need to show up, whatever my state of preparation. Perhaps showing up is the name of the game. Perhaps showing up is the game.
Brown says that being vulnerable is one of the central characteristics of courage. She almost equates the two. I agree.
So, today I will be vulnerably courageous and courageously vulnerable.
Arena, here I come!
“COURAGE IN LITTLE THINGS”
“6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success1 wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:6-9)
The posts these days seem to be preoccupied with little things these days. That may be because I often feel little to the point of insignificance. Probably we all, even the most “successful” (whatever that means), feel that way a good bit of the time.
So, I was thinking about courage in little things this morning. I have never thought of myself as being particularly courageous, but maybe I’m ignoring courage in little things. Today, I sent my sponsor the following affirmation:
“Today, by God’s grace, I am living courageously in small things. If big courage is called for, I pray that I will meet the challenge. However, courage in little things will certainly be called for.”
I am not sure what “courage in little things” even means. Maybe that will unfold as the day goes on. Perhaps I will need to be on the lookout for chances to exercise courage.
I do know this much: All muscles—whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual—are developed with exercise.
In the Scripture that led off this post, Joshua is being told that he is to lead the children of Israel into the promised land, a huge task. Worse yet, the former CEO of the company was Moses. How would you like to follow that act?! Did you notice that, in that brief quote, Joshua was repeatedly told to be courageous? Why so much repetition? I suspect there are two possible explanations for God saying the same thing over and over. Either God was being very emphatic, or Joshua wasn’t listening real well. Perhaps both are true.
When I was growing up on the farm, I kept waiting to develop big, bulging, impressive muscles in my arms. It never happened. No matter how much I worked, my muscles never impressed me. I threw bales of hay up on the wagon by adrenaline and determination, more than by muscles.
But the fact is that I did develop some muscles, even though it might not seem so. Little by little, I was firming up my muscles.
I’ve never felt very courageous. Perhaps I don’t need to feel courageous at all. But if I exercise in little ways, I am where I need to be, and doing what I need to do.
One final thought: Joshua 1:6 comes right after Joshua 1:5. It’s strange how that works! And in Joshua 1:5, God promises that he will be with Joshua, just as God was with Moses. Our dog is much more brave when my wife and/or I are with her. Being courageous with the God of the universe is a whole lot easier than being courageous without God.
“Confidence: Cultivating Courage in Others in the Little Things”
“Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the LORD is finished correctly.” (1 Chronicles 28:20)
David was about to die, and was encouraging his son, Solomon, to build the temple. “Be strong and courageous, and do the work!” says David.
Does it really take courage to build a temple? Yes, as a matter of fact, it does!
My wife and I just did a little project at our house. We were having the kitchen remodeled. Others did the really hard work—installing the cabinets and setting the countertops.
However, when the company that was overseeing the project wanted $400.00 to hook the kitchen sink back up after the countertops were set, my wife and I decided to do it ourselves.
Now, I come from a family of very capable artisans and fixer-uppers. However, I am an outlier in my family. Words? Yes! Fixing stuff? Generally speaking, no!
However, my wife used a major incantation to relax my very uncourageous muscles. She said, “We can do this.”
“We” is such a magic word!
A friend confirmed my wife’s spell. He even said that we would have fun doing it. And we did! (The same friend said that we should not try to wallpaper together. He warned me that divorce lawyers camped out around wallpaper stores in order to drum up business. Warning duly noted!)
“We can do this,” she said. And we did! And, yes, it really was fun!
We tend to think of courage as something soldiers and firemen demonstrate. I don’t doubt that this is true. However, there are the smaller chances for courage that are also important. To show courage is a wonderful thing. To encourage courage in others is perhaps even more wonderful.
I conclude with a note that I left at my wife’s place at the table this morning.
“My Dearest,
One of the gifts that you give me is confidence. You have a can-do attitude, not only for yourself, but also for me.
When you believe that I can do something, I have more courage to at least try. And sometimes, really quite often these days, I succeed!
Courage is not simply a gift we are given or achieve. Courage is a gift we give others.
With Great love and Appreciation,
Your Sweetheart
“The Courage to Face Our Strengths”
Many of us have a hard time facing our weaknesses and failures. I do too. Some of us have an even harder time facing our strengths. Here is a blog that may help you to face up to your strengths. It most certainly helped me!
This post is a very slightly edited e mail exchange that helped to kick-start my day. G. is a friend from my 12-step group, and is one of the most interesting, sharp, and encouraging people I know.
I have edited the exchange in order to respect the anonymity of both G. and me. I am the “D.” in the exchange. His e mail to me comes first. My reply to G. follows.
“Dear D.
I spent half of this last year faking it, hoping to make it. I prayed, I surrendered to God, I listened for God. It took that time just to start hearing something from Him. Eventually I realized He was talking to me all along. I just didn’t see how.
One of the ways I figured it out was watching and listening to you. You understand God as well as any person I know. Your ability to tell us things that God is saying is amazing.
Now you say that you are not good at talking with God. That doesn’t exactly make a novice like me see any hope. You just don’t see it.
I watch you talk about your wife, and I see God speaking in both of you. I watch that because watching you as you think about her tells me all I need to know. I listen and watch you talk about bible verses and I see a man who is connecting to God and the prophets.
So once again you are reducing the positive effects of you thoughts by diminishing yourself. As Bob Newhart said: “STOP IT”. Look it up if you don’t know.
You are a better man than that. The only problem is, I don’t know if you’ll ever see how much God loves you until you let Him tell you and you believe it. We may be a bunch of addicts, but everyone in SLAA (except for a couple) Knows you’re a good person, a smart person, a loving person, in touch with God, and a great friend.
So right now, stand up, look to heaven, and say to God: You made me a good person, I know I’m a good person, and I’m going to show myself I am and listen to You whenever You tell me something.) Then relax and clear your mind. That warm fuzzy feeling is God talking to you. Even I know that.
If you show this to your wife (that’s fine), now is when she can kick your butt for me. You said to call you out. I hope you weren’t kidding.
Your Friend
G.
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