Strength

I used to think that success was about forcing your way through things with a huge show of strength. That it was effective to beat obstacles into submission.

But I’ve found over time that strength can be much more subtle than that. For me it’s the difference between the person in the soapbox yelling Bible verses at people or showing kindness and care and then telling them how much God loves them. It can be pushing towards a goal by staying pleasantly persistent. It can be the soft words spoken regularly to help people see things from a different perspective. It can be overwhelming patience. It can be joy when it doesn’t make sense. It can be winning the war by losing a few battles.

God demonstrates the power of gentleness. In Romans 2:4 it says, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”. Repentance is hard, and firm, and yet God takes us to it with a gentle hand.

The key with kind and careful strength is that I can’t give up and walk away. I have to keep going in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. I must move forward even though everyone tells me it’s impossible.

Sometimes I might win just because I showed up...and then showed up again...and again, and again. Everyone else might walk away, but my dreams are worth sticking it out.

Do you think the stream from thousands of years ago knew it could build the Grand Canyon? Even if we feel like we are only that little trickle of water, over time we can build something others can only wonder at.

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