Courage

If you follow the seasons of your life closely, you can often find a theme woven throughout. Sometimes it’s hard to notice and easy to miss, but it’s there–both in the consequential moments and those which are seemingly insignificant.

 I’ve struggled to pinpoint my theme for the past month or so, and this week it revealed itself to me in a way that almost made moments seem as if they themselves were at the mercy of said theme.

 Courage.

The weight of that word has stuck with me, because it can be hard to have and even harder to pursue when you don’t have it.

 What isn’t coincidental (because I don’t believe in coincidences; I believe in Jesus) is that this theme comes at a time when we celebrate a story that is fully founded on courage of all those involved.

 Didn’t you know that Christmas was a story of courage? I didn’t either. But then I looked closely, and I saw it written in between the lines of every sentence.

How courageous was Mary to allow God to use her as a means for Christ to come to earth? Can you imagine the gossip that ensued when a single girl became pregnant and then claimed to be a virgin? To have your reputation become so tainted among your community for the sake of a story that no one believes–what courage.

And Joseph. For him to stand by his soon-to-be-wife who had become pregnant (and not by him) and sacrifice his reputation was equally courageous.

 What’s more is that Mary embraced this courage. “May everything you have said about me come true,” she told Gabriel (Luke1:37). Oh, if we could only live in that mindset! Can you imagine the things God could do in us and through us if we hoped that His plans for us were so radical they required that kind of courage?

Courage brought the story of Christmas to life. It birthed, literally and figuratively, the one Thing–the only Thing–that could save us all.

 And God’s not done. So be courageous, because He’s ready to use us when we are.

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.” (Psalm 31:24)