Over the past few weeks we’ve all been witness to our world and our lives in chaos, upheaval and change. As the COVID-19 pandemic invades virtually every country on earth, it has been aptly described as our silent enemy and that we are now a country and a world at war.
In listening this week to a number of our leaders invoking the phrase “beware of waking the sleeping giant of America” in espousing the power of our collective effort to ultimately defeat the scourge of this awful virus, the familiarity of that rallying cry piqued my interest. Perhaps because of my having little to do in this new “shelter at home” world, I Googled the phrase.
What I discovered was that in the 1970 film, Tora, Tora, Tora, one of the characters, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, is portrayed at the very end of film as saying after his attack on Pearl Harbor, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Again in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor the quotation was used, but this time abbreviated to where Yamamoto merely states, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.”
Further investigation revealed that there are some historians that question whether Yamamoto uttered these words at all. Regardless, they have now become a part of our lexicon in describing our national courage, resolve and fortitude. Actually, I think it a fine phrase, and one that is quite timely amid our current struggle. It can be a source of inspiration and motivation as we collectively as a nation and individually as its citizens do our part to defeat this insidious enemy and ultimately win this war. To accomplish this, in our battle with the coronavirus each of us must embrace the key that awakens and empowers the sleeping giant that dwells within each of us. Amid our anxiety, frustration and boredom of this struggle, how do we grasp, hold fast, and use this key?
First, we must recognize the presence, potential and power of this giant.
There isn’t a ruler, a yardstick or a measuring tape in the entire world large enough to compute the strength and capabilities of the giant who is fast asleep each of us. Its size and power is unlimited. Its force is that of a million dynamos. Its tireless energy is beyond all comprehension. It’s the giant of our untapped potential; our latent ability to unfold, to develop, and to grow…but it will continue to lie there peacefully asleep until we decide to wake it up.
Secondly, we must understand how to awaken this giant.
Like the desert lacking water, too often people endure shortages in their lives, when all they have to do is simply open the valves, the valves of FAITH, BELIEF, and CONVICTION to achieve them.
The giant who sleeps within all of us will come alive only in direct proportion to the our personal belief in these virtues. Our personal commitment is the key to awakening the full power and capacity of our inner giant. Our government’s clarion calls, despite their righteousness, are not loud enough to wake the giant. Even amid the worldwide threat we face today, we can only tap our mighty collective potential by first taking action in our own personal way.
Lastly, there is a source that will give us the courage to awaken our giant.
If you feel too weak or afraid to wake your giant, you are being tricked by your humanity. Remember with Faith you are capable of anything. Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
FAITH, BELIEF, AND CONVICTION are the key and the loud alarm that will wake up the sleeping giant within us all and lead us to our inevitable collective victory.
There is a prayer that I discovered years ago in a publication of the Salvation Army that I have found helpful in giving me strength to overcome the self-imposed “knots” I sometimes tie; those knots that hold my sleeping giant back. It’s appropriately called The Knots Prayer.
Dear God,
Please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart, my life. Remove the have nots in my mind that bind me and hold me back.
Erase the will nots and might nots that find a home in my heart. Release me from the could nots, would nots, and should nots that obstruct my life.
And most of all, dear God, I ask that you remove from my heart and my life all the “am nots” that I have allowed to hold me back, especially the thought that I am not good enough and powerful enough.
All Powerful God, awaken my sleeping giant!
Amen.
Have an AWE-full weekend and stay safe!
William “Bill” Bacque