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| Original photo from the blog of Free People |
Bravery is the hardest thing in the world to come by. I think I had more of it when I was little, but the older I've become, the more hidden bravery seems to be.
I peek around this tree here and that one over there in search of it, turning up rocks and pebbles and logs and stones, desperately seeking it because I know I need it.
I know I need it.
Are you here? What about here? Where are you? I need you.
The older I become, the more I realize that I need bravery, because this world is such a scary place. Where the scary resides, that's where bravery is called for.
Maybe this is why bravery has become more difficult for me to find: because I've become more aware of the world. The more I grow, the more I learn, and the more I learn?
Well, to be quite honest, the more terrified I become.
Each day I hear about new monsters, new dragons, new giants and trolls and all I want to do most days is crawl into my bed and pull the covers over my head.
God, I whisper to the darkness, I don't know how to slay dragons this big. I don't know how to fight these kinds of monsters or take on these sorts of giants.
But I can't just sit here, because when monsters and giants and dragons and trolls? When they're hurting other people? When they're hurting the collective unit that is us? Well, that triggers something within me.
And I can't just sit here.
When I read stories of what girls all around the world are experiencing, I can't just sit here. Daily rape, physical abuse for wanting to attend school, forced prostitution, unwanted child marriages, catcalling from the streets and so much else.
It makes me sick to my stomach.
When I sit in a class full of guys and those passages in the Bible of household codes come up? When those hard, messy, triggering topics arise and the guys are making jokes about them and the girls are sitting silent? When the privilege in the room doesn't realize just how deep sexism runs for us women, and when really all we want you to do is sit down and listen and ask us what we think about being prescribed lesser, weaker, passive roles based on our body types? When this scenario is unfolding before me, as it has more than once before, there's something deep down within me that is screaming.
Don't just sit here. Don't just let this happen.
The hard, messy, triggering topics in life? I've realized something about them: they're not topics. They're people.
My role, my place, my sex, and my body aren't "issues". They're me, they're all parts of me.
I've realized this over time, that all of these "issues" that we try to discuss, both in the world and in the Church, aren't issues. They're people, and people are made of stories. Perhaps the best way to talk about what we think are merely issues is found in this: listening to the stories of other people.
Racism? All I want to know is the perspective of the people who have been hurt by this systematic power structure (so all of the white people can sit down, myself included).
Sexism? The only voices that should be heard are those who have experienced it. For ages privileged, "masculine" men have been instated as the dominant, stronger figures while women and men labeled "feminine" have been left to passively exist beneath them.
And we've done more then exist. We've been forced to fight for our lives. We've been forced to survive.
This past summer I spent much of my time listening to the stories and voices of women who have literally had to fight for life because of the abuse, violence, and terror they were experiencing at the hands of men. The words were hard and messy, and the space was sacred and heavy. These women though?
They're the bravest women I know.
Their stories, their bravery, spoke courage to my soul, and though indeed the world has become scarier for me the older I've become, I've realized that the best way to find bravery is to see the bravery in other people. We make each other brave, and that's a really powerful truth.
Even if you're standing alone; the bravery of the people before you is standing in your midst.
Even if you're the first to be strong; the bravery that you're leaving behind will inspire those who come after you.
Bravery is like a feather. It's a beautiful thing on its own, but when coupled with a whole bunch of other feathers? It's a lot stronger, a lot less likely to be blown around by the wind and swept under the rug.
One feather might fall to the ground, but a million all together? Well, that sounds like the makings of bird, and we all know that birds are made to fly.
We, me and you and that person over there, we are made to fly. We are made to soar. We need to put all of our feathers together. We need to be brave, together.
I'm not sure what it looks like for you to be brave, but I hope it's in the hard and holy things of this life. I hope it's in seeking justice, in listening to the oppressed, in setting captives free. I hope it's in deep convicting places of your heart and among the collective us that is hurting and burned.
We've all been hurt. We've all hurt each other, but what's amazing is that we are capable of walking through healing.
But we have to be brave about it.
Bravery is what makes this world an alright place to be, and I think that's why we need it: because otherwise, what sort of world are we living in? What sort of world are we creating if not one full of bravery and love and all things courageous?
I don't want to be a part of a world dominated by fear, by terror and oppression and power struggles and privilege.
How can you be brave? What is calling you forth? What fears are surrounding you, what darkness is in your midst that is in need of some good, freeing, soul-feeding, light?
How can you speak truth?
How can you love well?
How can you have grace?
I'm so awful at this one, particularly of late. The hard hurting in the world makes me mad, and this is all good and well, but grace is necessary for change to happen.
When we're brave, mountains move.
Heavens gates open wide.
When we dance with bravery, we discover beautiful truths: we find that we are able to ride the dragons. We find that we can face the giants, and we find that the monsters are only trees.
Let's be brave, because we are made for such lives.
We're made to be people of courage.
