Choosing Courage
Choosing Courage
I was reflecting today on heroes from the past. A simple but profound truth was the golden thread that ran through every life.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
Courage and Peace are not what I would have typically considered together yet in John 16:33 Jesus says:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is saying that He knows in this world we will have trouble; but when we are in Him and leaning on Him, we can have peace. That means we depend on His courage, strength, and wisdom to work through the troubles.
That means we must choose to be courageous in the face of the troubles and determine to work through them.
There is a woman from Scotland who has done just that; while going through her troubles, she looked to God to find both courage and peace.
That woman is Susan Boyle; she had a dream. She was not particularly social, academic or confident. She was bullied and had very difficult life altogether. Susan knew from a young age that God had a plan for her life. Her family and faith are what sustained her all the years before and even after her dream was realized. At age nine she started to sing, but it wasn’t until age 47 that she was on Britain’s Got Talent, and her dream was realized. She became an international sensation when she sang “I Dreamed A Dream.” She found the courage to push through all of the overwhelming challenges to dream and then be willing to risk failing to gain her dream; a dream to be as successful as Elaine Page. She ultimately sang with Elaine Page. She was not young; she knew the death of her family members, depression, and being an outcast. Everything was against her, but God had a plan, and she chose courage to risk it all and pursue the dream.
Perseverance is what courage is, and that is what gained her the audition that changed her life forever. She is an inspiration with every song she sings. Inspiration grips me knowing all I need do is be willing to step up, take the challenge and be all that God has called me to be.
While watching a show Courage in Sports I was so inspired by the people who participated in the show. One of the young girls gave a great definition of courage she said: “A lot of people have this misconceived idea about courage. That courage somehow means the absence of fear. That’s not what it means; it means despite the fear that you go out and do it anyway.“ — Sarah Reinertsen (Ironman competitions with a prosthetic leg)
It is not what happens to you that means much as there are people all over that have had hard challenges and circumstances in their lives; it is what you do with those challenges that mean everything in the world.
Your response in challenging circumstances exposes your character.
Winston Churchill says it this way: “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others.” Without courage, the rest of our character becomes inconsistent, dependent on emotions or circumstance. But if our lives are marked by courage; courage to be the best that God has created us to be, and the best that we can dream to be then our lives will become a consistent journey of overcoming our challenges.
Consider with me a few more heroes and their impact:
Mother Theresa. She came from humble circumstances with a passion for helping those who were poor. She became a nun and chose a path in the toughest circumstances even though she had the opportunity to serve in less challenging circumstances. Regardless of your religious affiliation, to look at this one person’s life and see how she affected the world with her faith and love for the poor is overwhelming. This causes us to consider our paths, and perhaps we can’t influence the world, but maybe we can influence those around us.
But it takes courage.
Next, let’s consider Ben Carson’s mother. She had nothing but faith in God, and the courage of a lion. She was determined that her children would not be bound to their circumstances of poverty, gangs, and failure. She unplugged the television and required her boys to read books and give her book reports every week, even though she could not read. Courage just begins to shed light on what she needed to rise above the circumstances, and her two sons’ have impacted thousands. Today, Dr. Ben Carson is a world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, and his brother Curtis Carson is a mechanical and aeronautical engineer. The courage of one has affected thousands of children’s lives as her two boys rose to become successful men.
But it takes courage.
Inspired and convicted I find that some of the great heroes who had less than easy circumstances and overcame those circumstances; this was to the benefit of not only themselves but also others. In many cases, the benefit was for those around the world too!
What is your dream? Are you willing to find the courage and press into God to dream and know that He has given you everything you need to pursue that dream? You may need to look to those around you to help you, but if you are persistent and courageous, you can find the way to succeed.
Is there something in your life so important that you’re willing to push through fear to have the chance to succeed at whatever the dream or need?
