Godly Habits

Poet Maya Angelou was asked in an interview for Harvard Business Review what one of the most important lessons she ever learned was and from whom she learned it.

She pointed to a critical skill her mother had imparted to her as a young child, the desire to develop courage. “And she taught me by being courageous herself. And after years of leaving her and, I think, becoming courageous, I realized that one isn't born with courage. One develops it.

And you develop it by doing small, courageous things in the same way that one wouldn't set out to pick up a 100-pound bag of rice. If that were one's aim, the person would be advised to pick up a five-pound bag, and then a ten-pound, and then a 20-pound, and so forth, until one builds up enough muscle to pick up 100 pounds. And that's the same way with courage.

You develop courage by doing courageous things, small things, but things that cost you some exertion-mental and, I suppose, spiritual exertion.

We learn every good character trait through the same process: laying aside bad habits in favor of small yet life-changing new ones. This Sunday, as we honor motherhood, we will explore how those little choices lead to a life of tremendous impact.