Friday, August 10, 2012

Are you brave?

My Little Miss is on a "Brave" kick. The Disney Pixar movie, Brave? Yeah - she's seen it in theater. Bought the action figure. Played with her friend's bow and arrow. Runs around the house pretending to cast bear spells. Ordered a Brave backpack and lunchbox tote for preschool. Whispers to herself about Merida. She took swim lessons a few weeks ago and was scared to jump in the pool. A few promptings of "be brave like Merida!" and she was leaping right in :)

Makes me wonder how brave I am, and where my courage comes from.

Sometimes I wish Disney would do a Christian based cartoon instead of magic spells or portions or whatever. How powerful would that be?! What if Merida got her courage from prayer, and not her hill country heritage or a potion from the crazy old lady in the disappearing cave store? What if her courage came from the Holy Spirit and not just love of family? Wow!

That's real life, guys. We live in the real world - there are no crazy witches brewing potions and selling bear statues. No disappearing cave stores. No spells to turn mom into a bear when you want some freedom. And thankfully for us in today's time in the USA, no arranged marriages ;)

Sadly, there are no highland games either, which seemed really fun! ha!

Seriously though, we need to evalute where we get our courage from. Not the courage to fight a bear (because honestly I don't think I'd ever have that much) but the courage to stand up to peer pressure. The courage to do the right thing when no one is looking. The courage to shut our mouths when it's easier to spout off, and the courage to speak when it's easier to be silent and blend in.

Does your courage come from the power of God's Word and His promises? From the urgings of the Holy Spirit living inside you as a Child of God? Or is your courage weak and fleeting, because it's not based on things eternal?

Are you brave? And where is your courage coming from? Do you courage and fear are opposites or not? Let's talk about it! :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I get courage from the holy spirit, but need to work on being more courageous in doing the right thing. I'm not a bad person but, I do notice things that I could do better to be healthier, fitter, etc. I think in times of trouble, my bravery shows, I tend to take control, and lead when things like that happen. I think it is part my personality and part God, since God gave me my personality!

Jessica said...

This was so beautiful, and really got me thinking. Most of the time I forget to go to God for courage to fight against something that scares me. But whenever I do remember, the Holy Spirit always gives me that little "nudge" to step out of my comfort zone. I have to teach myself to not rely on myself or others for courage, but from God!

Anonymous said...

This is a really good post. Thank you for writing.

Betsy St. Amant said...

Great comments everyone! :) Thanks for reading.

Anonymous, excellent thought on God giving us our personalities. Love that!

I love posts like this because it helps us realize we all struggle with the same things as Christians, no matter how far we are on our Walk with the Lord. We're in this together :)

ChristianBlogger149 said...

Wow, really love your bog! :) It's really encouraging!