I love the word “gumption,” but it is a word rapidly disappearing from our language. Gumption has been around since the early 1700s in British and Scottish dialects. In the beginning it referred to common sense (which is also rapidly disappearing), but when Americans got ahold of the word they took it in a new direction. Now it refers to the kind of courage or get-up-and-go that makes undertaking difficult things possible.
I remember my friend, Nella, who has gone on to be with the LORD. As she aged, Nella a tall woman, became severely stooped. Whenever she saw me, she would laugh, pat my cheeks, and say, “Sweetie, growing old ain’t for sissies.”
No, it isn’t, but to be brutally honest, “life ain’t for sissies.” Life often takes gumption, the kind of courage or get-up-and-go that makes undertaking difficult things possible. Unfortunately, when we are at our lowest, when we need the most gumption is often when we have the least. Where do we find the gumption then?
Paul found his gumption in grace. “Each time [God] said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” [2 Cor 12:9-10 NLT]
Beloved, when life gets tough, and it will get tough, God’s grace will infuse us with gumption so that we have the courage – the get-up-and-go grace that’s needed to undertake and succeed amid the greatest difficulties. Amen&Amen