Courage is not everything
By Julia Fernandes
April 9, 2013
I am extremely afraid of insects and pests, especially rats, frightened birds that enter my space, or any other creepy crawlies. Recently when one such pest (a tiny rat) had entered, I had no option but to sleep in another place. I happened to casually share this incident with one of my friends who was shocked and admonished me harshly for my fear.
It set me thinking.
Each person comes into this world with its own set of weaknesses and strengths. Not all of us are endowed uniformly. If God wanted to make us super-humans, I am sure He would. But, He did not. He made us humans with all our human frailties – to be accepted and loved the way we are.
A person may not have the courage to tackle simple things, but that person could have rare courage not seen in anybody else. For example, I may be afraid of pests but I am not afraid of failures, rejections, hurts, etc. Conversely, someone else may not be afraid of pests, but he/she would be highly afraid of failures, rejections, hurts, humiliations, etc
It is not right to judge people on the basis of what they can face and what they cannot face. How courageous we are does not define our whole self. Courage is not everything. There are other attributes (gifts from God) as important as courage. And they are listed below:
The SEVEN GIFTS of the HOLY SPIRIT are:
1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Counsel
4. Fortitude (Courage/Strength)
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord
When you are WISE, you will be able to UNDERSTAND everything and COUNSEL the doubtful as well as have the FORTITUDE to face everything armed with your KNOWLEDGE that each of us should strive to be PIOUS based on a holy FEAR OF THE LORD.
Courage is just one attribute. Like it is said, ‘Discretion is the better part of valour.’ It is good to be brave, but it is also good to be careful; if you are careful, you will not get into situations that require you to be brave as courage is not everything.