Midweek Message – May 22, 2013

Everyone loves stories about people who show courage from the lion in “The Wizard of OZ” to real life heroes like firefighters who run into a burning building to save a child or real life heroes like Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

But not only are there the extraordinary examples of courage but there are the everyday acts of courage that may not get news media attention but show the same spirit. There is the courage of the person who shows dignity and grace as they face their last days in their bodies, the courage of someone who leaves a job to pursue a dream, a single parent who has the courage to raise their children on their own, the person who stands up against an abusive person, the list goes on and on.

Every person has a part of them that is courageous. It is sometimes hidden behind the fear of rejection or failure, but it is there just waiting for an opportunity to show itself at that moment when we are asked to reach deep within ourselves and do the thing we fear in spite of our fear.

Aristotle said: “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. ”

And here’s what Eleanor Roosevelt had to say about courage: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’.”

Quote of the Week

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela