When life is easy, we gain little.  But when times are tough, how we deal with them, holds the potential for great gains.  Our character, and the character of those with whom we interact, is revealed in the same way.

It’s easy to be kind, compassionate, and patient with others when things in our life are going well.  We feel less pressure, less stress, less irritation.  So not much is revealed to us about our own character then.  We might see glimpses, but rarely big pictures.

But if we’re having a hard time and we’re tested, then our reaction reveals our character.  And then we do get far bigger picture insights than we do otherwise.

A while back, I saw a video captured by a Ring recorder on social media.  In it, a man was delivering a package to a house.  He noticed that the flagpole was down, and the American flag was on the ground.  He set the package aside, tried to straighten the flagpole but it wouldn’t stay up.  So, he removed the American flag and folded it properly, then set it on the front porch, saluted it, and then went on about his day.

A great deal about that man’s character is revealed in his actions.  In what he did when no one was watching.  He respected his flag, his country.  He saluted it.  He knew how to fold a flag properly.  And he paused, though on a tight schedule, to do so.  He didn’t make an ordeal of anything.  He just did what we knew to be the right thing to do.

That is admirable.  That is honorable.  It is worth emulating—on matters like that and on all other matters.

We know right from wrong, good from bad, and what we should do versus what we want to do.  Sometimes, we wish we didn’t, because doing the wrong, bad or what we want would be easier, cause less conflict, be more acceptable to others.  But none of those things make wrong right, bad good, or make what we know we should do lose power over what we want to do.  

So we should pause and take a lesson from the man who paused to honor the flag and respect what he’s been taught.  We should recall that our character is revealed to us in what we do when no one is looking.  

Yes, sometimes that carries costs, and yet doesn’t our willingness to pay them also reveal our character to us and to others involved?  It does.  

This brings to mind something I was told as a child:  Nothing stays hidden.  God sees and knows everything we think, say, or do.  Or that we don’t.  

Character is revealed in not acting or speaking when we know we should.  To defend someone weaker, smaller, or younger.  When we’re able to help someone in trouble, and choose not to do it.

My point is that what we do reveals our character, but what we don’t do does also.

Maybe we could benefit from remembering that.  I’m not so much thinking of what our actions or inactions reveal to others about our character, though that can be important.  I’m thinking of what acting or not acting reveals to us about who we are.  That is, in my humble opinion, always important.  Because we, and we alone, are accountable for what we do and what we leave undone.

May your choices comfort you.

Blessings,

Vicki

PS.  Sharing a Faith Zone Mini from my blog I wrote many years ago that might be of interest.  I kept a cutout of it on my mirror for the longest time. 😊