In my opinion, there's two types of it: Bravery and Bravado.
Sometimes we generate this 'home-made' courage inside of us, a dilute mixture of deep breaths and positive thinking. It'll be a familiar concoction to you I'm sure, it's when you walk with a lifted chin, shoulders back and try to appear mature, grown up or in-charge (when really we're just a bunch of floundering little girls who panic at the thought of flying the nest! Or at least some of us out there are.)
But I'm going to break some, perhaps welcome, news to you at this point:
That is not courage.
True courage is divine. It's when your soul says 'YES' but your head and heart shout 'NO!' (Or maybe, 'No way not in a million years, you'd have to drag me by the ankles and whip me with a garden spade.') It's approaching situations not with fleeting, momentary confidence- a sudden spark, a flood of adreneline- but with the wind of god on your cheeks and his breath on your lips. We can be confident when we know God's on our side. We can be brave when we know he's holding our hand. We can square up to fear when we know we're not alone. OR... we can embrace it all, every last terrifying risk life has to offer, every dagger it has to throw and abandon inhibition all together- stand on God's shoulders and be: fear-less.
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| There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear... 1 John 4:18 |
This is amazing! It made me think of year 12 bible study when we were talking about how when we walk into an exam or a scary situation, we should say to ourselves 'my hope is in Jesus Christ and eternal life with him' :)
ReplyDeleteReminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird....."Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." And Mrs Dubose!
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