Last year was my first “Race for the Cure.” I was overwhelmed by the mass of runners pouring ahead and behind, united in the fight against breast cancer. On their backs runners wear notes that hint how breast cancer touched them. Weaving in through the hundred feet wide and mile long mass of runners forced on me awareness that everyone is tainted by disease and death. We are not alone; we need the strength of others around us. Finally, I realized the money for research from the masses of people made this cancer the curable. I live because of the courage of others.
I often need the courage of companions. One of the first things I did, after hearing I had cancer, was to call my sister and my neighbor, who were breast cancer survivors. Beyond the coping advice I need the shoulder to should strength to give me courage. My sister Joan said: “I know what you’re going through, I wish I could give the strength and knowledge from being on the other side, but you will have to make your own pathway through this.” Another time I was whining to my neighbor Sharon, when she said something
like, “I’m disappointed in you Marilyn, and I thought you had more gumption than to wallow in self pity.”
Self pity is the trap that springs up and robs us of courage. Victims. Choiceless. Helpless.
Valiant companion help us past the pity pits. Shoulder to shoulder they help us press forward. Courageous. Noble. True.
My favorite example of companions of courage is the story in The Book of Mormon of 2,000 stripling warriors, immature youth, whose courage saved their nation. They marched out shoulder to shoulder. When the battle was over, they search through the piles of dead, until they found each Son of Helaman. Yet not one soul perished, although “there was not one soul among them who didn’t have many wounds.” Credit for their miraculous preservation was ascribed to their faith, that their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. They chose courage.
Their mothers taught them how to be courageous. Their mother taught them faith--to trust in God. Then shoulder to shoulder they were fearless. “Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.”
And what about the fathers of the warriors? When food supplies were low, it was the families of the stripling warriors that sent aid. Fathers working the fields, day after day, are courageous. It was love for their fathers that fueled the courage of the stripling warriors. “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives.”
When we start to fear, it is because we have turned inward. Courage requires thinking outward of others and of God. Sometimes, I chose courage for those I love. Sometimes I chose courage because of the courageous companions that surround me. Sometimes I choose courage because of sweet heart or my mother or father or children. Many times courage comes because they believe in me.
I often need the courage of companions. One of the first things I did, after hearing I had cancer, was to call my sister and my neighbor, who were breast cancer survivors. Beyond the coping advice I need the shoulder to should strength to give me courage. My sister Joan said: “I know what you’re going through, I wish I could give the strength and knowledge from being on the other side, but you will have to make your own pathway through this.” Another time I was whining to my neighbor Sharon, when she said something
like, “I’m disappointed in you Marilyn, and I thought you had more gumption than to wallow in self pity.”Self pity is the trap that springs up and robs us of courage. Victims. Choiceless. Helpless.
Valiant companion help us past the pity pits. Shoulder to shoulder they help us press forward. Courageous. Noble. True.
My favorite example of companions of courage is the story in The Book of Mormon of 2,000 stripling warriors, immature youth, whose courage saved their nation. They marched out shoulder to shoulder. When the battle was over, they search through the piles of dead, until they found each Son of Helaman. Yet not one soul perished, although “there was not one soul among them who didn’t have many wounds.” Credit for their miraculous preservation was ascribed to their faith, that their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. They chose courage.
Their mothers taught them how to be courageous. Their mother taught them faith--to trust in God. Then shoulder to shoulder they were fearless. “Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.”
And what about the fathers of the warriors? When food supplies were low, it was the families of the stripling warriors that sent aid. Fathers working the fields, day after day, are courageous. It was love for their fathers that fueled the courage of the stripling warriors. “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives.”
When we start to fear, it is because we have turned inward. Courage requires thinking outward of others and of God. Sometimes, I chose courage for those I love. Sometimes I chose courage because of the courageous companions that surround me. Sometimes I choose courage because of sweet heart or my mother or father or children. Many times courage comes because they believe in me.
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