Reflections (On Courage)

Is your courage contrived or inspired?
I ask myself this question often.  I have been asking myself this question more lately!  We find ourselves facing the uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus with different moods.  Sometimes our feelings change in a matter of minutes.  One minute I am seeing beyond the immediate and reaching for the new possibilities that are coming.  Then I get bogged down with statistics.  I face the hard times we anticipate seeing over the next couple of weeks.  Through it all I seek to be courageous.
Is my courage inspired by the Living God whose Spirit dwells in me?  Is my courage inspired by Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, the one who is totally faithful?
Is my courage contrived?  Am I merely trying to convince myself that things will be ok?  (Or fill in whatever form that takes with you.)
We have the capability of stirring up courage, inspiration and enthusiasm.  I remember a junior high football game.  It was a rainy week day afternoon.  We rode the bus to Sherwood High School to play a junior high football game. 
In the locker room before we were to take the field the coach fired us up.  We were a bunch of eighth and ninth graders jumping around, hitting each other on the shoulder pads, and yelling so the walls shook. 
Then the coach walked back into the locker room and told us the game had been cancelled due to the rain and the field conditions.  (I figure they did not want to waste the field on a junior high game and were saving it for the big boys.)  Our enthusiasm - our courage - faded as quickly as it had been contrived.
That may be a reach.  However, I am not interested in walking through this season, trying to convince myself that "I got this".  I am not willing to share thoughts with you that are merely the result of my own contrived courage. 
There is something better. 
Courage is inspired.  Paul wrote in  Colossians 2:27.  "...God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Christ in you, the hope of glory.  Here is where your courage comes from.  Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You are free from trying to contrive courage.  Simply tap into the fact that through faith Jesus Christ lives in you.  He is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You do not have to "be strong" for others.  You have Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You do not have to have all the right answers, insights, and grasp of all that is before us.  You have Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You do not have to try and make everyone think you are OK.  The fact is it is OK to not be ok.  You have Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You do not need to contrive courage.  It is fine to admit anxious thoughts and feelings.  A new found honesty with our souls may be an outcome of this time.
You have inspired courage.  It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Your courage is light in darkness.
Your courage is hope in despair.
Your courage is faith in doubt.
Your courage is joy in sorrow.
Your courage is -- Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Let faith arise!  Let courage come forth?  It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And no one is coming into the midst of your inspired courage and say "game off".  This is "game on" time and as people united with one another and held by Jesus Christ, we live courageously.
Contrived courage fades quickly.  Inspired courage sustains us through life.
It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.
steve