day no. 16,981: courage and its counterfeits

“We need not teach [children] to admire courage; they do admire courage.” — G.K. Chesterton, Moral Education in a Secular World

Anyone can appreciate the brightness of boldness. It's value is obvious.

Everyone, especially children, however, need to be trained to discern between boldness and brashness. They do not need to be taught to be drawn to initiative, but they do need to learn the difference between risk-taking faith and reality-ditching folly. Both look like bravery, but one is fighting an armored giant with a sling and a stone while the other is jumping off a cliff without a parachute. The one is rewarded by God and the other is admired by men. The one ends in glory, the other ends in gory.

There is a bravery that puts itself in peril for the sake of something greater and there is a brashness that puts itself in harm's way because it has nothing better to do. 

Celebrating courage is contagious. Your kids will catch a case of it. You cannot vaccinate them against it. Your job is to make sure they catch and keep the kind that Christ commends and call out the kind that is its counterfeit.