Brave (a five minute friday)

My Five Minute Friday on: Brave

We live in a world that flat out deflates courage. The temptation to fear is great. It's a wonder we ever leave our front door.

Brave means when we display courage. But this definition of courage bothered me. It says, "facing difficulties without fear." I'm willing to argue that many of the bravest moments I have ever witnessed happened while fear was still present.

I saw it this winter when my eleven year-old introverted son stepped onto a stage by himself and sang his scared heart out. I felt it the first time I wrote about my story of sexual abuse and nervously pushed "publish." Or when my daughter, five at the time, was preparing for and recovering from surgery to have her tonsils and adenoids removed.

Brave is doing the hard thing, even when we are afraid.

And perhaps the bravest thing we can do is look in the mirror. Not a quick once over to make sure our hair isn't sticking out funny, but to see and acknowledge who we are. To pull back the curtain and expose the rawest parts of us.

Brave is being open to receiving God's way of smoothing our raw, rough edges.

Brave is staying put when it would be easier to retreat.

Brave is not letting fear win.

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Brave is faith.

Linking today with Lisa-Jo…