Keep Your Head Up
The other night, I was driving around Downtown Denver, and I passed a sign that said, “Nothing Without Courage.” I have heard that word a lot in recent months, but I have not given much thought to what it means or how it applies to my own life.
I always equate courage to bravery, and when the word pops into my head, I envision a warrior going to fight a battle or a soldier returning home, but I do not give much credit to what it actually means in the life of my everyday.
The definition says that courage is the ability to do something that frightens oneself.
And in another form, it is strength in the face of pain or grief.
This has me thinking, maybe courage is not just a term used for the fierce and brave, maybe it's a word for the ordinary too.
This life is like a course that is constantly traversing. Life is ever changing, and we must move with it or risk staying stagnant. There will be many scenarios along your journey that will frighten you. Some will hit you like a brick, and others will knock you flat on your face, but it will be your choice to get up and fight back that defines courage in your life.
It’s when the cancer results come in and you take a deep breath and decide that this is your life and you are going to give it all you got.
It's the relationship that is fractured, and you are going to choose to love, even when everything in you wants to run.
It’s the dream that keeps you up at night, and your choice to feed the passion even when nothing makes sense.
Courage is a choice.
You can let fear or faith determine your steps, but you can't have both.
I know where fear always leads me. I know exactly the route it will lead my mind. But faith, is unpredictable, and it’s reckless at times, but when we choose faith, we put our plans into the hands of a sovereign God and say, “Here it is, here is my heart.”
There is no telling what will come from our decision to trust in the face of the unknown, but I know with confidence that the decision to choose courage always leads to growth in the life of the one who chooses it.
Just as the warrior comes back from battle a little more experienced, so do you. You stand a little taller, you fight harder, and you keep daring to believe that beginnings are still possible even when all you have known are endings.