Be strong and couragous

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

- Joshua 1:9

Macie, my 13 year old daughter, needed help with her homework. It was about 10:00pm and I was tired and honestly did not want to participate. My husband and I had just returned from a long day of moving my oldest daughter, Maddie (age 19) into her new apartment at school. My day had been filled with 5 hours of car travel, a Walmart visit, buying, moving, and assembling furniture, decorating on shoe string budget, praying “she” would like it… and most importantly trying to enjoying an afternoon with my daughter, whom I rarely get to see.
Simply said- My brain was fried!
I know you can relate….But, Macie could not… and at the innocent age of 13, she didn't need to relate just yet. “Helping” at any time of the day still fits my job description. And with the current job market, I certainly can’t afford to lose this job. So, silently I gave myself a pep talk-

“Julie- you can do this! It’s only an 8th grade reading assignment. Read the one page essay; explain it and all will be good."

What I didn't realize was that the assignment was going to be more for me than her!
“Come on Macie, this wont take long at all”.

Re-energized by my pep talk, I grabbed her homework and began to read and translate “Self Reliance”; an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

You know by now, one would think that I’d be able to recognize God’s way of getting my attention. Once again, I am blessed by Him for just doing my job…being present and actually listening to what my girls have to say. He likes to use my children to speak to me. I think He uses them because honestly, I don’t always take the time to listen… and when I do, I am often blessed by what I hear. It is one of His calling cards, using the weak to help the strong.
The essay was about the importance of being you, and living in the moment of each day. Mr. Emerson pleads with his reader to “simply believe your own thoughts.” He goes on to explain that we underestimate the value of ourselves and our personal thoughts. We are always looking to someone else to be the smarter one, the wiser one, and the chosen one. His challenge to the reader is - To believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for others as well… “Speak what is true for you, and it will almost always resonate in others”.
The voice in our own mind is so familiar to us. We give it no respect. Instead we give more weight to the thoughts of others; our neighbors, our teachers or some great thinker from the past. So, I pondered the question, “What makes great thinkers great?” The answer: “They don’t disregard their own thoughts and look to someone else’s thought to be better. “ They move ahead confidently living a purpose filled life while I sit back and wonder, what about me?
Yes, I too have been guilty of wondering why everyone else has been given a plan and wonderful purpose for their life. Emerson says that way of thinking is just a sign of my ignorance.
“Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.”- Emerson
I have something unique, original, and great to express. Trying to imitate someone else only kills off the originality of “me”. Envy is a lack of appreciation of my own special gifts. I will never know what my special gifts are until I try to express them. I must find them by paying close attention to the interests placed inside of me by my Heavenly Father. They will reflect the “one of a kind” miracle God made me to be. For the miracle of “me” to be expressed, it will take courage and dedication. The greatness of the One who created me cannot be expressed through a coward.
Remember the Cowardly Lion who lived in the fictional Land of Oz. He was not your typical lion. Lions were made to be courageous and fearless kings. Oz’s Cowardly Lion never acted like a king. He was afraid of everything. He lacked the courage to face his fears because he was always running from them. What he failed to realize was that courage would come through facing his fears. Only after he receives the Wizard's gift, is he not filled with fear.

Our Father gives us the same gifts through the Holy Spirit. So, be brave and true to the creation God intended “you” to be! Put your heart into your work and be aware of what interests you. Follow these interests with sincerity! Listen and trust the holy spirits voice with in you! And soon you will find yourself moving closer to who you truly are: An original work of art, a “one of a kind”, a genius, a creator, a witness to the reality of redemption, a teacher and a force of good passing through this world.

May you live today with the courage and strength to be you!

Julie Peck