On Courage

One of my mantras in 2023 is “Choose Courage over Comfort.”  This notion is borne out of the work of Brené Brown who has studied the human condition for many years and writes extensively on vulnerability.  To choose courage over comfort means to wrestle against the desire to remain guarded or protected somehow, and instead to face vulnerability head on, knowing that in doing so, one will live a more authentic life. 

For my morning devotions I am reading a book by David Whyte: “Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment, and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.”  I was delighted to see that the word for today was courage.  Whyte talks about how we often link the word courage to some act of valor in the public sphere: running into a burning building, putting your body between gunman and students,  landing a plane on the Hudson, —where one receives medals and accolades (all of which are deserved). Moreover, according to Whyte, “ to look at its linguistic origins (of courage) is to look in a more interior direction and toward its original template, the old Norman French, Coeur, or heart.”

He goes on to say, “Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future.  To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences. To be courageous is to stay close to the way we are made.” [1]

Stay close to the way we are made.

 Made in God’s image. 

Set to life with the breath of God.

Given the Spirit.

Created for partnership.

Created for relationship.

Created for stewardship.

Molded through hardship.

Molded through worship.  

Molded through discipleship.

In heartfelt participation. 

Stay close. 

-LTM 1/23/23

[1] David Whyte, “Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.”  (Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2015) p. 39.