(16 pt. 2”X7” suede with velvet lamination)
8"x10"
5"x7"
“The righteous are bold as a lion.” Prov. 28:1
I came into this world a timid little being.
I never felt brave or bold. Winston Churchill. George Washington, John Paul Jones. Jesus. They were courageous.
And yet, when I checked the definition of courage, I found that courage occurs in the face of fear or pain or grief. It is that tension that defines it.
COURAGE IS NOT A FEELING. COURAGE IS AN ACTION.
You do not have to feel courageous to be courageous.
You do not have to feel fearless to act with daring. Those Churchills and Washingtons who demonstrated such bravery—did they always feel fearless? Did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed about that horrendous experience he faced, pray for courage? I can certainly imagine that.
We can recognize many everyday heroes around us. Staying with or quitting a difficult job, starting or remaining in school, persisting in or leaving a challenging relationship, sacrificing for children, not taking the easy road—these actions and others show courage.
In our nation and in the world, when right and wrong are stood upon their heads, courage may be the most needed, the most critical virtue. At this time when forces in society and government seem determined to erase ageless moral notions and to eliminate those who uphold them, we must have valiant people.
COURAGE IS NOT A PERSONALITY TYPE.
Bravery is way above our natural temperaments, and it is now that we must demonstrate
Courage to speak,
Courage to stand,
Courage to work,
Courage to give,
Courage to act.
Courage not to give up.
It is difficult to overemphasize the importance of what we do in this time. Like David, we ask “Is there not a cause?” Like Esther, we must put our lives on the line for what we believe to save our society, our families, and our nation, saying “If I perish, I perish.”
“Courage -- the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”
It is courage that separates great people from ordinary ones.
And so we pray that this TruthMark, with its majestic symbol of courage, will remind us to show bravery in our lives and in the nation, no matter how fearful, uncertain, stressed, or defeated we may feel.
Hearken, dear friends, when we are in the right and act in the right, we are bold as a lion.