The Sword that Won the War

I was scrolling through my Instagram while eating breakfast. I came across Denzel Washington’s speech, where he won the Image Award for outstanding actor in a motion picture. He said, “If you fall seven times, you get up eight.” He then finished his speech with “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.” This last line punched me in the gut.

Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship. Saying this out loud, reminded me of all those moments when I wanted everything to be so simple. Those times that I will cry and looked at the heavens, asking God why my life couldn’t be easy. “Why was everything so hard?!” I would ask in my moments of desperation.

I also remembered, that just before all of my victories, there was a lot of misery. It dawned on me that I was breaking walls to get to the other side. The door was not left ajar, nor the window was left open for me to come thru. During my most desperate moments, I had to bull doze my way to reach my goal.

Not only do I love Denzel Washington as an actor, but I also love the charisma with which he talks and conveys his testimony. It never fails to keep me engaged and help me to draw inspiration into my own life. It’s true we don’t really grow through ease.

Like a sword, we are forged by fire, hammered to shape and solidified by ice. In the same way, a sword comes to life, we come into being. The hardships in life mold us, our commitment to getting up every time we fall down shapes us and the consistency of doing this, time and time again, makes us. Through this hardship, commitment and consistency, we become that sword through which victories are won.