Gumption. Lovely word. Merriam-Webster had this to say about the word “gumption” in my Word for the Day.
“English speakers have had gumption (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term’s exact origins aren’t known, but its earliest known uses are found in British and especially Scottish dialects…. In its earliest uses, gumption referred to common sense. American English speakers adopted the word and took it in a new direction, using it refer 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. “But, [the LORD] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” [2 Cor 12:9-10 NIV]
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 that’s needed to undertake and succeed amid the greatest difficulties. Amen.
