Courage

A story is told .... that a college student was once assigned to write a 10 page term paper on an ancient Roman value. The point of the paper was to show the professor that they understood the value completely, by giving definitions and examples. This student chose courage as his topic and wrote his paper. The due date came, he turned his assignment in and hoped for the best. Later, his professor was astonished when he found his paper. There were just five words: the first and last name of the student and one sentence that read, "This is courage." 10 blank pages followed.

If only college were really that easy. I've been there. It's not! Writing 4 page papers (4 full pages) at 10 when the paper is do at 12... been there, done that, so over it.

Putting that aside, I think this story makes a good point. This student obviously understands what courage means. Turning in a blank assignment is committing GPA suicide. The average student would rather gable on about nonsense and get at least something, then turn in virtually nothing and risk a 0. No one would dare do it. Teachers know this too, and they suffer through the bad ones to give a student at least some credit. But coming across ten empty pages carefully stacked and stapled together must have shocked him, to say the least, for two reasons:

1) This student broke the cardinal rule of at least writing 10 pages of crap, and
2) he risked his entire grade on just five words, five words that were read in 2 seconds but generated enough respect that he passed with flying colors. That risk alone showed the teacher that he understood what it meant to be courageous.

I do not know if this story is true, but it is an example of courage none-the-less.

Courage comes in many forms: a courage to fight; a courage to stand down; a courage to defend the things you believe, at the chance of ridicule; and a courage to do hard things, at the prospect of certain failure.

Talk with an entrepreneur or a new business owner, and you'll find a person who now lives their life by courage. Consider first what it might be like to quit everything. Leave behind a financially secure job that pays the bills and builds your savings. Then consider pursuing a dream with nothing but the money in your bank account and a few people crazy enough to believe in your vision. I used to wonder why people do it? I think I've found the answer. They've found something that they love. They love it because it is either 1) their passion, or 2) not working for someone else.  Most people don't have the courage to take that step. Unfortunately, some don't even have the courage to find a career in their passion. Larry Smith thinks that this will make most people fail to have a great career.

C.S. Lewis said, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." It is difficult to live a life consistent with our beliefs (whether they be moral, religious, secular, or a combination of them all), and everyone's virtues will be tested. For every person that believes that it is wrong to steal, they will be faced with a situation where it will seem the only thing to do. Every person that believes it wrong to have an abortion will will be confronted about their belief. And every person that believes in God will feel like they are left alone in their toughest trials.

Courage is the ability to stand up for what you believe in, in these situations. Do the right think and don't look back. A courageous person doesn't believe in the phrase, "I can't." They may have said it, but they don't really believe it. If you ask them if they've done something hard, they might say, "Not yet, but thanks for the idea!"

So next time you think you can't do something, ask yourself first, am I just too scared to do it? If you are, then reconsider how great it would be to accomplish it, then have the courage to do it.

P.S.A lesson on courage is touched upon in Veronica Roth's book Divergence. It is a very good book that I can only describe as Hunger Games-esque, with a dash of addicting.

Discerning Good

I strive to find a balance between doing good on my own accord, doing good based on Spiritual promptings, and ignoring temptations from the adversary. It’s a hard and confusing battle at times, because both sides fight equally hard to be heard. The trouble is, they all sound like me. The Lord speaks to us in our own language and temptations come through our thoughts. Funny huh? It’s hard to discern voices at times. Sometimes it affects the way others look at me I swear. If I get a small prompting to take an alternative route when driving, I will often war with myself if it was a real prompting and will spend some time pulling “U-es” until I finally get frustrated and just move on. I wish I could tell in an instant what I need to do. This is my first step in learning how to discern inspiration better.

It starts with a scripture I read in Moroni. “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.”

This scripture is simple, yet incredibly helpful. It confirms first that there are really only two outside influences vying for our attention. The first is God, and he will only tell you to do things that persuade you to do good, or believe in Christ. The second is the adversary, and he pretty much covers everything else. The trick is, when an idea comes, we need to be able to recognize what influence that idea has over us. Will it entice us to do what we know is right? Or will it entice us to do evil? (or are we not sure). The best way to know in these circumstances is to have a firm testimony of the gospel combined with intelligent scripture study.

With a testimony, you can feel the influence of the Spirit stronger in your life. He is more recognizable to you because you are familiar with his presence.

With intelligent scripture study—by that I mean scripture study where you actually pay attention with a desire to learn—you get to know God, and everything he expects from you. When you clearly understand what he expects from you, you can discern more quickly the Spirit’s guiding hand over Satan’s.

Could I have helped someone out if I had just followed the prompting? Yes, I very well could have. I didn’t though, so I’ll never know. The only thing I can do now is put those experiences behind me and move on.

Often we want to remember the pain of missed opportunities in the vein of reminding ourselves to never do that again. If you do this though, you end up beating yourself up so much that you become helpless when you are needed to help someone else the most. Trust me, you won’t forget your mistakes, let them go when you can and prepare yourself for the next opportunity. It’s the only way to truly learn from them.

Tell Me You Can't...

... after watching what this guy did in his late 50s!

I'm sure you've seen this video before, but it is a truly inspiring tale that I think needs reminding. Ignore the pixilation in this low quality video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7w8hV90SI

If that doesn't give you inspiration, I don't know what can. Most think they can't run farther than a mile, let alone try to swim one, or bike two. Imagine trying to do an Iron Man (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and then run a marathon); then try doing double the work as you bring someone else along. That's an unconquerable spirit if I've ever heard of one.

I like to wonder how much faster he could complete it without the extra weight. My competitive drive begs and pleads him to try it, just to see how much better he would do. He'd probably blow most of his competitors out of the water, literally.

I highly doubt he wonders that though. I don't think he would ever consider it. He does it to spend time with his son. His motivation was to take his son to new heights, not to see what he could do alone. He helped his paraplegic son accomplish something he never thought he could. And his son loves it. If you watch closely, you can see him waving his arm in the wheel chair and moving his feet, like he's running too, while in his father's arms.

When I think to myself that I have too much on my plate, that I can't possibly accomplish what I'm hoping to, I think back to this man. I wonder what it must have been like for him to get up every morning and train twice as long and twice as hard as anyone else who competed against him in one of the most physically demanding races in the world. What a trial of will. Shows what you can accomplish though with a firm resolve and a hopeful attitude.

If you're interested in seeing what it takes to train for an Iron Man, check out my friend (Kristopher's) blog. http://actthedream.blogspot.com/. He's currently training for an Iron Man and is using this blog to hold himself accountable for his training. Help him stay accountable by leaving an appropriate comment or two if you already know him. Kristopher has been my motivation to do hard things (including my masochistic running habits) over the past few years. He has taught me to push myself to my potential in every aspect of my life. He truly knows how to work and sets a good example of diligence to everyone he meets. I owe him a thank you for that.