You Just Stand

During difficult times, I sometimes turn to a song called "Stand". Donnie McClurkin sings it, and part of it goes like this: "What do you do when you've done all you can, and it seems like it's never enough? What do you give when you've given your all, and it seems like you can't make it through?" The answer lies in the simple refrain: "You just stand."

That's where strength seems to come from--our ability to stand up, face resistance, and walk through it. It's not that people with the courage to persevere (good word!) don't ever feel doubt, fear, and exhaustion. They do. But in those toughest moments, we can have the faith that if we take just one step more than we feel we're capable of, if we draw on the incredible resolve every human being possesses, we'll learn some of the most profound lessons life has to offer.

I do know that there is no strength without challenge, adversity, resistance, and often pain. The problems that make you want to throw your hands up and holler "Mercy!" will build your tenacity, courage, discipline, and determination.

I once read a book by Eleanor Roosevelt (awesome woman!!) called, "You learn by living." One of my many favorite quotes in that book is, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face, and are able to say to yourself, I lived through this horror....I can take the next thing that comes along....you must do the thing you think you cannot do."

Every challenge we take on has the power to shake us--to knock us to our knees. And yet, what's even more disturbing than the jolt itself, is our fear that we won't withstand it. When we feel the ground beneath us shifting, we panic. We forget everything that we know and allow fear to freeze us. Just the thought of what could happen is enough to throw us off balance.

I think the only way to endure the "quake" is to adjust your stance. You can't avoid the daily tremors. They come with being alive. These experiences are really gifts that force us to step to the right or left in search of a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand.

Balance lives in the present. The surest way to lose your footing is to focus on what dreadful things might happen. When you feel the earth moving, bring yourself back to the now. You'll handle whatever shake-up the next moment brings when you get to it. In this moment, you've found a new place to move your feet so you can step onto higher ground.

As you walk into what you fear, know that you already have the enduring power you're asking for--then say thank you, because you understand that your deepest struggle will produce your greatest strength. And what do you do in that moment, when you feel like you can't make it through? You just stand.

Stand - Donnie McClurkin