At the Center of It All

There are a few e-mail devotionals that I read on a regular basis—my favorite is The Fischtank by John Fischer (and I’m adding the link to my blogroll also). Today’s devotional connected with me, and I commented on it. He typically posts most or all of the comments that come in, but I wanted to include it here also because the thoughts are definitely a part of my spiritual journey.

Here is part of what he said today:

We all have our share of responsibilities we put off because they seem too frightening or ominous. But this only makes things worse. Remember, the one with the least amount of trepidation is the one with the ball. So pick up the ball and get in the game! It’s a lot better than just watching.

I’ve been talking with a fourth grade class at my school about courage. We looked it up in our student dictionaries the other day, and the definition was “bravery or fearlessness.” We started a discussion about what courage is and what kinds of acts could be considered courageous.

They came up with all kinds of examples from the very simple act of telling a teacher she was pronouncing a name wrong, to the profound courage it takes to serve in the armed forces. We decided, though, there was one thing that made all of them acts of courage—and in the process decided that the dictionary was wrong. Courage is not fearlessness. Courage is being terrified of something, but doing it anyway because it is the right thing or the necessary thing or the important thing.

I’ve lived through some acts of courage myself—from the simple (riding my first roller coaster at the age of 39) to the profound (telling my family and friends about some terrible things I had done, things I’d held secret for too long). The piece of the puzzle I couldn’t talk about in class with my students is that the common denominator for me in every one of these acts is God. On my own, I would not have the courage to do anything. But despite my fear, God’s spirit gave me the strength to have courage, pick up the ball, and do what needed to be done.