Strength!

To the scientist and the engineer, strength is in the physical formation. To the leader and the soldier, strength is in invincibility. To the little boy among peers, strength is in the size of your biceps; and the capacity to win arm wrestlings!
What is strength to you?
Dictionary defines strength as (1) the quality or state of being physically strong; and (2) the capacity of an object or substance to withstand great force or pressure.
There is so much pressure on us in today’s world even though we may deny it. The barrage from the news is all negative, and repressive: from Nepal. to India, to Nigeria, to the Middle East, to the USA, etc. We are bombarded with information about natural disasters, insurgency, receding moral standards, temptation to err, etc. All these pressures want to break us: to tell us that we are not good enough or strong enough.
Someone blurted out last week, “Why do these things have to happen!?” I won’t venture to answer that question, but while still looking forward to the answer, I will ask a different question: “What can we do to remain sane in this situation?”
 
1. Do not stand alone
Quoting Confuscius, “If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” King Solomon also writes, “Two are better than one,… For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.” We are better off in company of like-minded people!
 
2. Connect with SomeOne stronger
As much as mankind has attempted to deny the deity of God, we have not been able to evade it. Someone pointed out that evolutionists date rocks by the fossil and date the fossil by the rock i.e circular thinking. We do this when run out of ideas. A Professor of Physics wondered why it’s only water that expands anomalously if not that SomeOne arranged it so as to preserve aquatic life in winter. Whichever way, if we are sinking, we are better of clutching at a straw–a strong one at that!
 
3. Live for a purpose
Living to earn a living is boring! Make something happen for someone else, or for your city, or community, or nation! If we have a reason for living, it could be easier to weather our storms. If we live for ourselves alone, we may soon ask why live and go through all the pressures in the first place. In the book In Pursuit of Purpose by Myles Munroe, he opens the book with the story of a prosperous man who jumped into the ocean to kill himself. A young and strong man saw him and went after him, saving him. The rich man was in his 70s. He was happily married with good children getting on fine. But he said, “Everybody knows who I am, but I do not know why I am.” Without purpose, it won’t be long before man caves in.
 
4. Embrace your mortality!
Well, we want to live long, but no one will live forever and the earlier we come to terms with this, the easier it would be for us and the more peace we would have!
 

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 Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

– Mahatma Ghandi – 

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The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 

– King Solomon –

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