I depended on Wikipedia for this information. I suppose if I were younger, I would have consulted ChatGPT or a similar artificial intelligence medium.
But I didn’t want artificial information, so Wikipedia was my “go to” resource.
There are, according to that source, 78 bodies of water that are named seas. The definition used for “sea” is “a division of an ocean delineated by landforms.” That’s a rather fancy way of saying a sea is something smaller than an ocean, and could also be called bay or a gulf.
When I swam through the list, I found eight such bodies of water whose names began with C. I couldn’t pronounce four of them so I jotted down these four: the China Sea, Coral Sea, Caribbean Sea and Caspian Sea.
Four Seas.
I imagine you are truly grateful for this information! You are welcome!
But this blog is part of a series that wants us to wade into a vastly different body of Cs. These Cs won’t get us all wet or track sand into the house on our sandals.
Character, Conscience, Consequences and Courage
When one reads them in that order, they seem to be concepts which build on one another, each C growing out of the previous C.
I was unable to determine if it was Merriam or Webster who defined character as “attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual.” As in remarking, “Oh, she’s a real character!” That’s really just shorthand used to avoid listing all the “attributes” and “features” of the person’s behavior that led to calling the individual a character in the first place!
So start with character and move to conscience.
Conscience
The Cambridge Dictionary said conscience is “the part of you that judges how moral your own actions are and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for.”
Folks talk about guilty conscience, clear conscious and “it’s a matter of conscience.” Too bad Cambridge did not also note that conscience can be the C in us which makes us feel faithful about the things we do.
So I wondered what New Testament Timothy might say. According to the New Jerusalem Bible rendering of I Timothy 3:8 conscientious deacons “must be respectable, not double-tongued, moderate in the amount of wine they drink, and with no squalid greed for money.”
Oh my! Having a clear conscience can be quite demanding!
“Character” joined by “conscience” creates a blueprint for how to behave and what we believe.
Consequences
Unsurprisingly though, there are often “consequences.” What we think, how we behave, what we do with our conscientiousness, are met with consequences. In these days, no matter what age group, religious body, political affiliation, or social order we might inhabit, responses to character and conscientiousness may elicit commendation and collaboration, or at times disparagement and disagreement.
Which, of course, is why we need the fourth C - “courage.” It is tempting in the face of unflattering even vitriolic feed-back to keep quiet, or even recalibrate our moral compass and go in a different direction. Scriptures advise us differently.
Courage
Many passages counsel us to “fear not.” Perhaps that’s a code word for courage. Another look at scripture, however, sends us in another direction. For example, these words lifted from II Chronicles 15, vs 5 & 7 (New American Bible version):
“….there was no place for inhabitants to go or come, but many terrors upon the inhabitants….but as for you, be strong and do not relax, for your work shall be rewarded.”
Brené Brown says much the same thing but with different words: “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
Mary Anne Radmacher reminds us that courage doesn’t have to make a big scene, for “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
What a great combination of Cs.
Our Character is guided by our Conscience, realizing that both may produce Consequences--some desirable, some not so desirable--and then Courage shows up to help us keep on being faithful to our Conscience!
Dear blog friends, these days may be filled with more discord than love, but fear not, for the four seas--oops the four Cs--can be our game plan for how to faithfully manage our relationships and convictions forthrightly, seldom blatantly, and never with intent to injure.
Along the way and in the process, we are never let down nor left alone by a God of Justice, Mercy, and Hope!
I’m ready now for a cruise on those other four seas!
For Reflection (either individually or with a group)
Read the blog. Read it a second time, maybe reading it aloud or asking someone else to read it aloud so you can hear it with different intonation and emphases. Invite the Divine to open your heart to allow the light of new understanding to pierce the shadows of embedded assumptions, stereotypes, and ways of thinking so that you may live more abundantly. Then spend some time with the following questions together with anything or anyone who helps you reflect more deeply.
- How would you define “character”? Who would you say is the role model who best exhibits character, as you define it?
- Do you agree with the author that “character” joined by “conscience” creates a blueprint for how to behave and what we believe? How so?
- What does the quote from Brené Brown, ““Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen” mean to you?
