We once knew a man so strong, he could lift a FULL 50-gallon hot water tank and carry it out of our house. What must it have weighed?
He also lifted one corner of our barn when we needed to put a new pole under the roof.
On each occasion, we had only asked him if we could borrow a dolly or a housejack.
He shrugged.
He did not have those tools. Wonder why not?
He had strenth. He was accustomed to lifting motors from cars and rebuilding them, so his muscles were trained for heavy work.
What kind of heavy character-work would it take to develop that type of strength in character?
How do we achieve strength in character? Where does it come from?
As does physical strength, strength of character develops from use. Each undertaking begins with small steps toward small goals. Our friend could not lift a barn when he was 18, but he worked at developing that strength because he wanted to lift heavy things.
In the same way, the heavy points of character become easier to carry out when we have worked hard to develop the strength.
Think about it. What are you good at? I know a man who excels at arriving late. Likely it began with hitting the snooze button when he was a teen. I know a lady who organizes huge catering events, regularly. Likely that began with learning to cook as a teen. Be it good or bad, your most prevalent strengths, abilities, or skills began with a single step.
And your future most-prevalent-strength can come from a single step you take today.
Your new strength could be in forging forward, no matter the pain. Or you could specialize in giving up at the first twinge.
Your new strength could be in creating. Or it could be in destroying.
There is one strength that I wish we all could develop: the ability to give and accept help. So many refuse to give; so many refuse to accept.
There is One Giver of a bottomless well of all-conquering help, Who ever lives to help us. I am learning to accept His help, His strength, more each day, and to extend it to others–baby steps that could lead to a real strength, someday.
Will you join me?
The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 1 Corintians 1:25
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image via wikipedia
Home's Cool! 
Yes, I will. Thanks for the reminder.
{:D
You are so welcome, Anna! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Katharine, this is a fabulous piece… Really well done. I am not a writer and started the post a day challenge last year to improve my writing. I’ll be stopping with daily posts and starting to post on my own terms after this year, but it’s been fun. Have a wonderful New Year and thanks for stopping by BrainCaviar. I’m likely to start up a new post called BrainCaviar for Educators this New Year. It’s in the works. Blessings to you!
Thanks, so much, Claudia, and welcome to the site! I am so glad you liked this post; that means a lot to me. I shall look forward to whatever you post. Blessing to you, too, in 2012.