FORT BENNING, Ga. -- In this week's Chaplain's Corner, Chaplain (Capt.) Charlene Cheney, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, writes about the positive quality of resilience, both as it relates both to giraffe calves and to humans.
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A baby giraffe falls six to ten feet from its mother's womb at birth.
After the baby giraffe falls to the ground, it struggles with all of its might to stand.
As soon as the baby musters up enough strength to rise, its mother kicks it!
This causes the baby to fall back down.
The baby struggles to stand repeatedly. Each time the baby rises, its mother knocks it to the ground. This process happens continuously until the baby giraffe is pushed to the point of exhaustion. The determined mother becomes satisfied the moment her exhausted baby is able to push through extreme weariness and rise.
This seemingly cruel process is necessary. The mama must mete out this unconventional tender loving care to ensure that her beloved newborn is strengthened in ways that prepare it for its new life. Her actions make the precious child a less vulnerable target to all the enemies that pose a threat to its life. Observing her calf consistently regain its composure helps the mama have faith that her little one has mastered the number one rule of successfully surviving its new life: To rise with every fall.
God invites each of us to experience new life with Him. Sometimes, God uses unconditional methods to prepare us to outsmart and overcome the enemy. We all have had moments when God has loved on us mama giraffe-style to ensure that we were trained, strengthened and equipped to rise every time we fall. These moments can sometimes unpleasantly feel like God is giving us a kick in the rump.
During these moments it is important to know the following:
1. Know that God will never put his hands on us to harm or hurt us. When God touches us, God intends to heal us. God intends to help shape and mold us into something better than we are.
2. Know that God will never use his power to exploit and overpower you. God desires to lovingly empower you.
3. Know God touches us in ways that humble us and encourages us to move ego out the way. A humbled heart and reduced ego helps us to hear and see God more clearly.
4. When God puts his hands on us, his intention is to uplift us and teach us how to turn our stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
5. Our struggles with God are never meant to sabotage us. They are meant to strengthen and transform us into the new creation that God is calling us to become.
If you are in a season of life where you find yourself knocked off your feet, I encourage you to consider that maybe it is God encouraging you to learn how to rise again and again, and properly face and fight the enemy.
The righteous falls seven times and rises again.
- Proverbs 24:16
Related Links:
Benning News on the Army News Service
Fort Benning Religious Support Office
2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade
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