Monday, May 28
We just can’t see everything. No matter how good our devices for monitoring, diagnoses, or surveillance, we just can see some things. The best eyes cannot. Telescopes cannot. Microscopes cannot. There are invisible things that no one has ever seen. We can see the effects but we cannot see some things we talk about all of the time. We cannot see love but we see the impact of infatuation in young couples and abiding love in gray-haired couples. But we cannot see “love”. What does an ounce of love look like? What color, shape, or size is it? Who knows but it surely does pack a wallop.
What about “courage”? How is it that some seem to have large amounts of it and others are totally void of any? How is courage acquired? Courage is certainly not attained by the pound, or by shirt size, or IQ, or by age. Where does a person go to acquire it?
All of us admire it. More of us want more of it. No one has ever seen it “in” a person. Its impact shows up in times of great trial when it seems to “just appear”. But in reality, it was there all along according to the friends of the courageous. Small clues of its evidence seemingly presented themselves to let others know that courage was just below the surface of one’s character. Given the right catalyst, courage erupted like a volcano waiting for the right pressure to force it into the open. But even then, the description given is of the action of the person who acted with “courage”. The witnesses have never described the “size or description” of courage, itself.
Various folks have told us about the influence courage has over a person. Here are some…..
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened. Billy Graham.
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. Thucydides.
A hero is someone who has given his or her live to something bigger than oneself. Joseph Campbell.
Greater love has no man than this, than He lay down His life for His friends. Jesus of Nazareth.
The Bible is filled with courageous men (and women)…..Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David….Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Mary , and many others.
Life is filled with courageous people. All around us are courageous men and women who have fought to defend our country’s freedoms. Some came home to build a nation…. one community at a time. Some paid with their lives so that the rest of us could build upon their sacrifice. Memorial Day is the time that we remember the courageous acts of good men and women whose valor has given us liberty. Take time to do what “memorials” are meant to do…..to remember those who died to give liberty to this generation. Remember the courage, reflect on yours, and rejoice in the conviction and commitment that so many demonstrated that we can celebrate one more time in a free land. May God have mercy on this land upon which He has shed so much grace. May your Memorial Day be a great time with your loved ones honoring liberty’s privileges.
