HOLDING
THE STICK

Topics: Beatitudes; Confidence; Divine Power; Gentleness; Human Power; Meekness; Strength

References: Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5; Philippians 1:27–30

President Theodore Roosevelt adopted as his pet proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” He meant that if the United States had a strong military, it could work its will among the nations of the world.

In 1901, Roosevelt changed the saying to “If a man continually blusters, a big stick will not save him from trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power.”

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” he was not speaking of armies and foreign policy, but some principles are the same. The meek Christian does not need to bluster, as if self-confidence could win the day. Whether we’re contesting a point, responding to criticism, or speaking of the hope within, we can do so in meekness, with quiet confidence. For in “back of the softness” within us lie the strength and power of God.

—Thomas Bailey and David Kennedy, eds., The American Pageant, 9th ed. (D. C. Heath, 1991)