January Virtue of the Month – Courage

VIRTUE OF THE MONTH
COURAGE
Thursday, January 16, 2014

Mircosoft Word – January Virtue Speech on Courage
Powerpoint – January – Courage

When I say E-CSLIT you say LEADERS (x2)

Welcome back and happy New Year.

What month is it? (January)

And what’s January’s virtue of the month? (Courage)

Now raise your hand if you know what the opposite of courage is (pick volunteers).

Yes the opposite of courage is FEAR.

So raise your hand and tell me some of the things that you are afraid of (pick volunteers).

Thanks for sharing.  Let me share with you some things that I am afraid of:

I’m afraid of singing in public.

I’m sometimes afraid of what other people think of me.

Sometimes I’m afraid that I will make the wrong decisions.

Or that my decisions will hurt other people.

I’m also afraid that I might not be doing what’s best for my daughter all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there are times that I’m afraid that I’m being selfish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the thing though, being a leader is about having courage. But courage doesn’t mean not having fear.

Fear can be a good thing.

Fear makes you cautious.

 

 

 

 

 

Fear makes you evaluate your options.

 

 

 

 

 

Fear makes you think before reacting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But fear can also be a bad thing if it inhibits you from taking action.

Here’s the important thing to know. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage rather is acting in spite of fear.

In other words courage is the realization that there are some things more important than your fear.

My friend Stuart Knight taught me that we are actually born with only 2 fears.  The fear of loud noises.

And the fear of falling down.

Which means that all other fears that we currently have, whether it’s (give examples from earlier), those have all been learned.

In other words, all your other fears – unless you’re talking about a life or death situation – are really just all in your head.

The best definition I’ve learned to describe FEAR is this:

F – alse
E – xpectations
A – ppearing
R – eal

Fear is the expectations that something bad is going to happen.

And that’s why as leaders, you need courage.

Courage to act in spite of fear.

Because, it’s okay to be afraid, just don’t let your fear hinder you from doing what is right.

From doing what is necessary.

Because like I said, there’s more important things than fear.

So have courage.

And instead of acting on fear, act on FAITH!

Faith in yourself.

Faith that what you are doing is right.

And faith that the Lord will always be by your side.

Faith vs. Fear

I pick faith!

—Happy New Year!