Through this journey to joy, recently, I’ve been praying that God give me “courage to change the things I can” (mainly better habits) along with strength from Him to get through another day as the bee does, looking for the sweetness of life.
Did you know that in scripture the phrase “be strong and of good courage” appears 11 times? The phrase of just “be of good courage” adds another 6 references.
What prompted my looking at the word courage in the bible was my reading of Proverbs 15:21 (SAAS—OSB):
The ways of idle men are strewn with thorny plants, But the thorny plants of the courageous are worn smooth.
The note in the OSB is “Idle men are cowards, because they have no courage to deal with their problems (thorny plants). But courage is one of the general virtues, and courageous men confront their thorny issues and smooth them out.”
See I have thorny plants and many and I want and need to smooth them out and I need courage. I want courage.
Be strong and of good courage and find your treasures in this moment!
Be strong and of good courage and see the sweetness of this day!
Be strong and of good courage and stick with the plan of new habits!
Be strong and of good courage and do not let the obstacles, which always appear, slow you down or dissuade you.
I love the analogy of the bee drawn only to sweetness and when I think about courage and being strong I think of the ant.
Ants are incredibly strong but they are also very courageous. Have you ever watched the ant work? If you try to stop that ant, for instance by blocking its path with your shoe, that ant just becomes more determined then ever to find a path around your shoe. He isn’t scared of you, he just presses on. Or when faced by a spider 10 times his size,We ought to be like the ant as well, strong and of good courage!
Be strong and of good courage!
Kindler of Joy! 