Strength Under Command

Weakness is not virtue, and softness is not holiness. A man who cannot defend, provide, decide, or endure is not gentle; he is merely unable. The world has enough of that already. But strength alone is not the goal either. A strong man without command is a threat, not a leader. Every home has feared such a man. Every workplace has been broken by one.

The mature man is strong on purpose, and his strength is on a leash he holds himself. He could speak and he waits. He could win and he yields. He could take and he serves. This is not weakness pretending to be strength; it is strength that has finally grown up. Christ washed feet with the same hands that could have called down legions. Marcus Aurelius commanded an empire and disciplined his own mind before dawn.

Ask yourself what your strength is currently doing. Is it protecting the people around you, or is it wearing them down? A man's power is judged by what happens to the weak when he enters the room. Enter it as one who has been trained.