When I want to burrow deeper into a word or concept, I sometimes turn to sign language.  Recently, during a break in a Michael McDonald concert, I noticed a woman, to the right of the stage, signing to a small group of people.  I was mesmerized by her unvarnished and unblinking use of signs to describe everyday life.

There was no posturing or pretense as this gifted communicator reflected the mood and nature of the songs.  When I asked her for the sign for courage, she clenched her fists, knuckles away from her body, elbows bent—the position your arms would be when finishing a pull-up, where your fists rest just below your chin.

"Courage means ‘strength, power,'" she told me.  And that sign is the visual equivalent of the Hebrew word for courage (hazaq), which means "to show oneself strong."  Thankfully, there are expressions of Christianity that put forth courage as a gift of God's Holy Spirit.

Anglicans, Catholics, and Lutherans believe there are seven primary gifts of the Holy Spirit, as found in Isaiah 11.  Here we're told that the Spirit of God rests upon messiah, helping him and those who know him to do their part in the messianic kingdom.  Isaiah gives very specific information:

            The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

                        the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

                        the Spirit of counsel and of power,

                        the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.