I have talked about it more than a few times, but Courage was the word I chose to be my word this year. And as life, and God, would have it, I have been given ample opportunities to have courage in both big and little ways.
I don’t think it is the big ones that I am confronted with the most, but more the daily decisions to have courage to be my most authentic self, learning to say yes to what is best and no to what does not serve. And as I grow and become and get older, and hopefully a little wiser, I can tell those apart.
I was reading Brené Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, and came across this by Mary Daly, and it made me take a deep breath.
Courage is like—it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn to courage by COURAGING!!!!
(The exclamation points are my add-on. You know how I love an exclamation point!)
I should have known not to pick a word like courage if I did not want God to give me opportunities for growth. I am learning that the things, activities, and events that worked for the life I had do not always work for the new life that I want. I have a hard time figuring out that trying to do everything means that I really do nothing of value. To the girl who has boundless energy, it is really hard to figure that out.
And I don’t know about you, but the only way through is through!!!!
I remember when I was in such pain after my divorce, I wanted to skip all the pain and the feelings. I was not used to feeling defeated and broken and so disappointed. Those are not my normal feelings, but I had to face them, and the only way through was through. I could only learn courage by couraging.
That seems to keep coming up in my life. I remember as a little girl thinking, Boy, I cannot wait to be old, when life smooths out and I don’t have all these things to deal with. But as I have figured out by 67, as long as I am alive, life will always be lifing. Courage will always be needed.
The year is more than half over, and I think this may be a word I have to do a Part Two on.
Isn’t it kind of glorious, however, to be alive and have time to work on becoming more of who God created us to be?
I think it is.
And I will keep on couraging until I run across the finish line, which I hope is way in the future.
Karen
