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Andrew Morrison
Student ID 4030660
Assignment 6-1
4/17/2017

Building Resilience: The Importance of Courage and Learning

Both courage and learning are needed for Christian college students because

learning will help to see the necessity of a courageous move, learning will help develop

confidence for a courageous decision, and learning wisdom while taking steps in the

courageous action.

First, learning helps open opportunities for one to take the first courageous steps.

It's been taught that for someone to make a change in their life, which in this case,

would be doing something courageous. One of the first things needed to initiate change

is a realization that there is a need for change. There must be a learning that has to

take place first for the realization of a need for a change. Learning something that is

inspiring, or experience something that urgently pushes someone to see the need for an

act of courage.

Look at Daniel and his three friends for an example of being pushed into a

situation that calls for courage and bravery. In Learning for the Love of God, the authors

make the argument that these young men were not only courageous in the refusal to

eat of the kings delicacies, and participate in idol worship but they were even more

courageous in the fact that instead of using their youth and their zealous worship of the

One True God to incite riots and try to usurp Babylons rule, they go to work and serve

with excellence the very king who destroyed their home, the temple and made them

exiles! Not only did they serve but they served with excellence and faithfulness. Daniel
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embodies for us not only courage but a deep commitment to faithful patterns of living.

Come what may, he is going to be faithful. (Orbitz and Melleby p. 17-18)

Secondly, learning can help one be confident taking the steps of courage. When

taking the initiative to act courageously, there can be a lot of pushback. Often when

acting courageously, other people are going to see what that person is doing, and often

have something negative to say about it. When doing something that stands out, there

are plenty of people wanting to bring that person back down to the norm. Sometimes

individuals minds can play cruel games and try to undermine the decisions made,

seeding doubt about a particular choice, and if it should even continue, which creates

hesitancy in continuing the actions.

In 2nd Kings 22, the historical story of a king unfolds who did something

courageous despite the resistance he faced from within and without. King Josiah

decides he is done living like the kings before him and starts to follow the Lord. He

begins by repairing the temple that had been worn down and forgotten after years of

neglect. Josiah cleaned and repaired the temple and was perfectly content on having

accomplished just that. Later, one of the officers came back with the Law of God that

had been found and Josiah had it read to him. He realized there was more work for him

to complete and that the steps for cleaning and repairing the temple was just the

beginning! The reading from the Word of God helped him realize that he was on the

right track, but that he needed to keep going if he was going to complete the work or the

courageous project he had started!

There can be plenty of times in college where someone can feel like throwing in

the towel, whether that's just quitting college all together, or compromising their
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standards and think that just getting through it is enough. But if they stretch and

challenge their learning in the moments that call for courage, they can resist the desire

to go back or to settle for less.

Finally, learning is key to helping make wise choices while being courageous.

There is a fine line between courage and recklessness. Brett Mckay spoke on this in

one of his Art of Manliness articles, in which he said, Courage is recognizing rational

fears, but acting nobly despite this fear in order to maintain manly honor.

Recklessness, is rushing in without learning from your surroundings, without seeing

what could pose a danger and what the most noble decision would be to counteract that

danger. Courage doesn't mean running at something without giving it any thought. It's a

courageous act that people need to evaluate. Students can learn from those who faced

similar fears and how they overcame them, as well as learn from those who aspired to

do great things, but were reckless in their choices. There is a reason why freshmen are

not recommended to take senior classes. It is because as classes progress, there is an

expectation to learn from them so that one can be prepared to take on more difficult

classes. Taking a senior level class as a freshman would be reckless. However, If they

learn from their experiences, and everything that is leading up to that point, they can

take those final steps to act courageously and with confidence. Another example is

taking a freshman orientation class. Could someone feel called and just jump right back

into college right away after a few years? Yes, but that could be reckless considering

they may not be used to the pressure of assignments and consisting reading and writing

deadlines for some time. But by taking a beginning class to get back in the swing of

things, and to take on that learning, is courageous. Courage does not mean an all-out
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sprint nor a dive right in approach, but it can be just the constant moving in the direction

someone is feel called to take.

Learning and courage should be like the two wings of an airplane, going hand in

hand to help students take off in their vocations and careers. Without courage, students

can miss out on great opportunities that the learning is preparing them for. Without

learning, they can miss the opportunities becoming discouraged and abandon their

dreams, or make reckless and unwise decisions. But with learning, students will start to

see the necessity of a courageous move, to help develop confidence for a courageous

decision, while learning wisdom in the mist of taking steps in the courageous action.
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WORKS CITED

Mckay, Brett. "How to Be Courageous: Developing Courage." The Art of Manliness.

N.p., 05 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments ; New King James Version.

Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991. Print.

Opitz, Donald and Derek Melleby. Learning for the Love of God : A Student's Guide to

Academic Faithfulness. Brazos Press, 2014. EBSCOhost. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.