courage

These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. Everything Is Meaningless

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 NLT)

It takes courage to get up each day and keep living. To overcome daily struggles. To go to sleep at night pushing past your fears, anxieties and worries that keep popping up: “I could have done better,” “I shouldn’t have done that,” “Maybe if I…” and to give them up to God because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7). It takes courage to get up and facing your struggles over again the next day.

Maybe you get up without hope that things will get better, but keep getting up with courage to push through it somehow.

Someone said to me drily, “Life is pain.”

It’s true.

I used to think that courage is the freedom to face fear, not the absence of fear. However, in a way, that seemed incomplete. Like there was something more to courage. I’ve seen people and animals be free to live their lives, and yet somehow something is holding them back. What was missing?

I think Ernest Hemmingway said it best: “Courage is grace under pressure.”

The daily cares and pressures in life may not ever cease. Maybe over time our pain and trials will ebb and flow, new ones added, and old ones sifted away leaving scars no time has been able to heal.

Many people and circumstances in life will either build up or tear you down. But even through all the pain, there is grace in it all.

God gives grace through courage. May you hold on to it.

As the psalmist writes: “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (Psalm 27:14 KJV)

Let’s take courage! He gives strength.

“But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!” (Mark 6:50b NLT)

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