The Courage That Begins Already Beaten

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, young Jem Finch despises the cantankerous Mrs. Dubose, who hurls insults at him from her porch every afternoon. When Jem destroys her camellias in a fit of rage, his father Atticus requires him to read aloud to her each day as penance. What Jem doesn't know is that Mrs. Dubose is fighting a battle far fiercer than her sharp tongue suggests — she is dying, and she has chosen to break free from a morphine addiction before death claims her. She wants to leave this world beholden to nothing.

After she dies, Atticus sits his son down and says something that has echoed through generations of readers: "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

That is the courage of faith. Scripture never promises us easy victories. When Joshua stood at the edge of the Promised Land, the Almighty didn't say, "Don't worry, it'll be simple." He said, "Be strong and courageous" — precisely because what lay ahead would be hard. Real courage isn't the absence of fear or the guarantee of success. It is stepping forward in obedience when the odds say stay put, trusting that the God who calls you forward will walk with you through.