A note of brave for you on this Monday afternoon.   Let this blog post written by Barb Stanz sink in a bit. Grab a coffee with an open heart and mind…

Who do you think is braver: Superman or Clark Kent? 

Superman flies around Metropolis saving its citizens from all types of disasters.  He sounds brave to me. Clark Kent is a mild mannered guy; at times he is even clumsy and awkward.  Clark doesn’t seem so brave.

It’s easy to see Superman’s courage as he saves Lois Lane from Lex Luther.  But when I think about it, being bold is being like Clark Kent.  Clark does not go out and save the world. Instead, he makes daily, morally correct decisions. That is its own type of courage.

Listening to God and obeying Him can be scary.  Putting His will before mine is hard, and at times even alien.  Sometimes God wants me to put the blue superhero suit on, but usually He wants me to do simpler things. Things like helping someone, giving to another person, or praying more.  Simply stated, He wants me to love more. That can take a lot of courage.

Recently God put a person on my heart and told me to love them.  I thought “I do love them, why tell me that?”  Once I got over the surprise of being told to do what I was already doing, He revealed to me that I may love Chris with my words, but not with my thoughts.  Prideful thoughts were affecting how I saw Chris.  Thanks to God’s great timing, I was with Chris that same day for an hour or so.  Sure enough, my words said one thing while my thoughts said another.  Because of God’s earlier prompting, I was aware of just how “loving” I was being.  This enlightenment helped me focus on my thoughts and take some captive.  I didn’t get all the thoughts, but the awareness of my judgmental attitude altered my behavior.

At first glance, this may not appear daring, but truly allowing God to reveal to me my innermost thoughts took courage.  I could have simply continued on my merry way and not allowed Him to shine a light on that filth in me.  He opened my eyes to my judgment, and it was ugly. Looking at it took strength.

Every day we are given the opportunity to be heroic, to love others as we love ourselves.  My kryptonite is different from yours.  The issues that test my bravery are not necessarily the same as yours.  But we all have issues, and each day can be full of little loving acts where we have to leave our comfort zone and do the right thing.  Let us not dismiss the small acts. Obedience in them allows God to grow us so we can be obedient in bigger things.  That way when God asks us to run into the nearest phone booth to save the world, we are prepared.