The Positive Qualities for the week of 07/26/2026

When you are tempted to be meddlesome reach for your tender Lionheart and be Mettlesome instead. The qualities which are most often abused need to be balanced the most. Power is very seductive. Bring into play fairness, reasonableness, compromise, and all-powerful love.

LIONHEARTED

Definition: exceptionally courageous or strong; magnanimous

Quote: The truth is like a lion. You do not have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself. — LIONHEARTED
Definition: exceptionally courageous or strong; magnanimous

Quote: The truth is like a lion. You do not have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself. — SAINT AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Hippo (354-430) Roman Empire theologian & philosopher

Symbol: The lion serves as a powerful representation of courage, strength, and resilience. And, like all qualities, it needs to partner with the tender qualities to reach its true potential.

METTLESOME

Definitions: (1) full of spirit; courageous; brisk; fiery; (2) possessing constitutional ardor

Note: Not to be confused with meddlesome <to interfere in the affairs of another without their permission>

Derivation: a variant spelling of metal, used in a figurative sense. In the 17th-century the adjective mettlesome was popularly used as a reference for spirited horses.

Quotes: Life brings sorrows and joys alike. It is what a man does with them – not what they do to him – that is the true test of his mettle. — Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th President of the United States

We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time. — Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) Scottish Baptist evangelist

Comment: Said to be an essential quality of a United States Marine.