I am no hero. I recently spoke with a friend of mine whom I have not seen in a while. At the end of the conversation she told me that I was a hero to many.
<SQUIRM!!!>
That made me highly uncomfortable to say the least.
Hero? Definitely not me!
It’s funny how a compliment can make me so uncomfortable. How quickly my mind can take a positive and twist it to a negative! I immediately thought back to all the bad things I have done over my marriage. If only she knew…
- What would she think if she knew I had used the dreaded H-word? It doesn’t matter that that was 10+ years ago or that I had made it my goal to never use that word again when referring to people, although I admit to it slipping out when I stare down that cascading mountain of socks, as in, “I H@*% folding socks!” (I now think the H-word is the ugliest and most overused word in our language, but that’s another post!)
- What would she think if she knew that I had been abused or that I had sometimes let that abuse get in the way of my relationships?
- What would she say if she knew I had been on a dating website and had talked to a man before my annulment was finalized? What would she say if she knew I was so weak?
- What would she say if she knew I still struggled with believing that the power and love of Jesus is greater than my ugliness?
- What would she say if…?
I Am No Hero
I am no hero. I am incredibly fallible, stupid, unworthy, human.
But I love and serve a God who is The Hero.
God is my hero. He gives me the power: the power to go on another day, the power to forgive, the power to be strong but not hard, the power to be vulnerable and feminine and – yes, sexy, the power to look for love and to (hopefully!) learn from my mistakes, the power to smile, and the power to mean it.
I am no hero, but I am a child of God, and from His power, His example, I can act heroically when I need to. Acting heroically, despite who I sometimes am on the inside, is something I can do.
The world needs more people to act heroically, strong men and women, not worthy of praise because of anything they do, but because of the power of God that shines through them. I am no one special. I would not have chosen this life. I will, however, do my best to consistently choose to lead others to Jesus – our only true Hero!
What about you?
Will you act heroically or will you try to be a hero, doing everything on your own? Heroes often find themselves to be fallible or fictitious. Don’t try to be a hero, but do stand up. Even when you want to be fall, you can act heroically.
Your children need you. The world needs you. You have the ability, the power, the love. The power to act heroically is already inside you waiting to shine.
God Bless…