Courage Character Commitment

Courage will get you through the door; character will keep you there. Some people are courageous enough, but their lack of character eventually causes them to self-destruct. You have to have character. D. L. Moody said character is what you are in the dark. Philip Brooks said character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in life s smaller moments. I agree with that. It is made by the day-by-day decisions that you make of the small things. That s what really forms your character.

Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next.

The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation. The truth you believe determines your character.

Reputation is what you re supposed to be; character is what you are.

Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away.

Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.

Reputation grows like a mushroom; character grows like an oak.

Your reputation is learned in an hour. Your character does not come to light for a year.

A single newspaper report gives you your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character.

Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.

Your character is what God knows you to be; your reputation is what men think you are.

Here is a good test of character. Ask yourself:

If you were an employer seeking to hire an efficient, honest, and competent employee, would you hire yourself at your salary?

If you had to live with someone just like yourself for the rest of your life, would you look forward to it as a wonderful opportunity and privilege? It will tell you a little bit about your character.

If there are rats in the cellar, you can find it out by bursting in upon them suddenly because the rats don t have time to hide. He said the sudden intrusion doesn t create the rats. It just reveals the fact that there are rats in the cellar. He said, If you want to find out what a man s character is like, catch him off guard. The sudden intrusion, the sudden offense when you catch a person off guard and they respond and react, it s a real revelation of what s in the cellar of their life.

Sow a thought, reap an act;

Sow an act, reap a habit;

Sow a habit, reap a character;

Sow a character, reap a destiny.

Your character is formed by the daily decisions that you make. My character is formed by the daily decisions that I make. You must have courage, but you have to have character to undergird your courage.

When the Spanish explorer, Hernando Cortez, landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1519, he was committed to conquering and seizing Mexico s vast treasures. He was so committed that when he arrived, he burned his entire fleet of eleven ships, and left no means of returning home. There stood all of his soldiers, all of his troops, and all of the people that he had brought with him from Spain. They looked out on the harbor, and the ships were on fire. They had no way of retreat, and no way of getting out. The only way then was forward. That is commitment. Sometimes in life you have to burn your ships

The point is this: What is it that you know in your heart is right? The course of action that you believe you should be on? You are going to have to be committed to it. Sometimes you have to stay the course through misunderstanding. You have to stay the course through boredom, through loneliness, through attack, through ridicule, through abasement, through times of blessing, through times of fatigue. You have to stay. And I m telling you, if you will stay the course for what you know is right, it will eventually pay off if you will stay committed. It s through commitment that the snail reached the ark. You have to stay committed. You need courage, you need character, but you need commitment.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You