The historical biblical account of Caleb and Joshua ...

The historical biblical account of Caleb and Joshua recounts their reconnaissance mission into the Promised Land.  They saw the same giants as the others who were with them but responded with courage.  Later, Joshua, as he was preparing to lead his army to fight these same giants, was repeatedly reminded to not be fearful but act with courage.

What is Your Courage?

What is Your Courage?

We have heard it stated repeatedly that courage is not the absence of fear.  Those in war are the first to admit that they feel fear when they acted with courage. 

Courage comes in two forms.  Physical courage includes things like the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Moral courage can be described as the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.  It is in these circumstances that courage enables us to stand firm. 

In Woody Allen’s latest film, “Midnight in Paris”...

In Woody Allen’s latest film, “Midnight in Paris” the protagonist, after magically going back to 1920’s Paris,  remarks that every generation desires to romantically go back to the past when they believe times were better and things were easier.  He concludes however, that people are made for the time they are in and must live it to the best. 

Since we cannot go back in time and retreat in these difficult days, what can we learn from the poster that rallied the British to demonstrate courage, cheerfulness and resolution?

The poster read: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory.”

In 1939 at the beginning of World War II the British government produced a series of posters intended to boost the morale of its demoralized citizens who were fearing a German invasion. They had good reason to fear as Adolph Hitler was invading one European nation after another. The first in this series of posters read: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory”.

I don’t need to tell you that today, 72 years later, we find ourselves IN similarly precarious times.  National debt, unemployment, terrorism, instability in the Middle-east and a chain of recent natural disasters have a majority of Americans with a similar sense of fearing.