We tend to think that being bold has a lot to do with doing crazy, adventurous things like in the movies and a lot less about making choices. However, the picture of courage and boldness that Hollywood has painted for us isn't always the case.
You see, Hollywood has painted a picture that says that doing adventurous things and being outspoken and extroverted are equal to being bold, but God says that we are most bold when we make the right choices. Making the right choice is hard. It's hard to die to your flesh and give up what you want for what He wants! And yes, sometimes God calls us to do things that are bold in the Hollywood-sense, like me moving at Texas in August or speaking publicly, but the chance to be courageous and bold by making the right choices comes every single day.
Now you all know by now that I'm a major bookworm, so I'm going to use an example from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Because of the recent movie, you probably know part of the context, but the part I'm going to talk about isn't in the movie.
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit (a smallish kind of creature that dislikes any kind of disturbance or excitement in general), is on a quest to help some dwarves regain their mountain, which is being inhabited by a large dragon named Smaug. The dwarves send Bilbo into the mountain to spy on Smaug, and here's what Tolkien (or the narrator) has to say about Bilbo's courage at that moment:
"'Now you are in for it at last, Bilbo Baggins,' he said to himself. 'You went and put your foot in right in it... and now you have got to pull it out and pay for it! Dear me, what a fool I was and am! ... I have absolutely no use for dragon-guarded treasures, and the whole lot could stay here forever, if only I could wake up and find this beastly tunnel was my own front hall at home!'
He did not wake up of course, but went still on and on, till all sign if the door behind has faded away. He was altogether alone. Soon he thought it was beginning to feel warm. 'Is that a kind of glow I seem to see coming right ahead down there?' he thought.
It was. As he went forward it grew and grew, till there was no doubt about it. It was a red light steadily getting redder and redder. Also it was now undoubtedly hot in the tunnel. Wisps of vapour floated up and past him and he began to sweat. A sound, too, began to throb in his ears, a sort of bubbling like the noise of a large pot galloping on the fire, mixed with the rumble as of a gigantic tom-cat purring. This grew to the unmistakable gurgling noise of some fast animal snoring in its sleep down there in the red glow ahead of him.
It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from here was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait. " (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, pages 232-233. Emphasis mine.)
Out of all the amazing things Bilbo did in his adventures, all the courage and valor and boldness he showed in the different battles and situations, this was his bravest feat. The choice he made in that tunnel to continue to help the dwarves in the face of incredible fear was the bravest thing he ever did. This kind of courage is not often mentioned in stories today. People like to see characters being brave is fights and battles, but you never see their personal battles going on when they make decisions.
God is beginning to grow me in this, and teaching me how to have courage in the quiet way, when no one's watching.
