The Badge of Courage

Courage is truly under rated. When I think of courage, I picture an acrobat balancing on a biplane 1000 feet overhead or a rock climber on a mountain face clinging to rock with just a rope and some hooks.  These adrenaline junkies. no fear do or die athletes, are courageous but they are only a small percentage of what courageous looks like.

Today I was able to scrape up a minute to sit out on my front porch and take a breather. The view from my porch is mostly trees and woodland. My mind started to drift to the thoughts of the increasing number of snakes we are having lately and my ongoing avoidance of them.  The other day, in trying to overcome this fear, I headed out and walked anyway.  In telling a friend about my bravery, I stated “After thinking it over, I came to the conclusion that death by snake bite is much cooler than death by inactivity.”  I just earned my courage badge!

If you look around and really pay attention, you will find people doing courageous things every day. Courage is getting up in front of 10 people to give a presentation when just the thought of it makes you feel like you’ll pass out. Courage is running through a thunderstorm to roll your windows up.  Courage is a 17 year old bringing home a newborn baby. Courage is the woman at the grocery store who can barely push her cart through the isle.   For some, courage is just getting up in the morning.

When I think about all the times I have to muster up courage, I think of Peter.  How much courage did it take for him to step out of a perfectly good boat?  When Jesus said come, he was the one throwing fear out the window.  Anytime you have to overcome fear, you are asked to get out of your boat.  I think we all look a lot like courage.