It’s Monday, and I need courage. You probably do, too. And not just because it’s Monday.
This weekend, several of my conversations and devotions centered on courage, and I realized that I’ve asked for courage a lot less in recent years.
I used to ask for courage when I flew to other countries by myself.
I used to ask for courage when guards wouldn’t release my passport at a border crossing.
I used to ask for courage when I packed up my whole life and moved from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
I’m in a different season right now. And the lie I’ve let myself believe is that I don’t need courage for “normal” life on home soil. So I ask for it far less frequently. The stakes just aren’t as high.
But aren’t they?
When we rank our experiences or compare them to someone else’s, we can stop asking for what we need because we feel we don’t deserve it, all things considered. We’re not Joshua trying to lead an entire people group through a desert; we’re not the next person on social media living life on the edge; we’re not in south-central Asia fleeing from the people in power. But the common denominator I notice in Scripture is that God calls people to have courage when He calls them to do something. Period. And as people of faith, we believe that each of us has a call to do something – often many things. So words about having courage are for us, too. There’s never a time when the task is so small that it negates our asking.
What do you need courage for this Monday?
Courage to start.
Courage to stop.
Courage to wait.
Courage to work.
Courage to rest.
Ask for it without downplaying or comparison. And live into it. For me, it’s asking for courage to work in ways that look different from my previous life season. It’s a new type of courage, if you will, but courage just the same. Even the “easy” things need grit, the predictable requires power, and the mundane needs might.
I love this quote from Mary Anne Radmacher: “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” I said that to myself last night before I went to bed, and I’ll say it tonight.
You should say it, too.