Be Brave

Bravery. What is it?

Bravery, by definition, is courageous behavior or character, a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear. Most people, when they think of bravery, first associate it with ideas such as fighting for independence. You know, the kind that a country is founded upon. But the meaning of bravery, for me, in my small, impressionable world, has a slightly different meaning.

Here are some of my recent discoveries of bravery in the day-to-day simple life of an average American (and half Canadian) girl.

- Bravery is having the guts to humiliate yourself by signing back up for piano lessons to relearn the things you always thought you knew. Only to be placed in a lower level than when you originally started.

- Bravery is butchering a song at an Honors recital and having the dignity to bow and bare a smile

- Bravery is writing an letter of confession to a best friend

- Bravery is preaching a sermon...without notes

- Bravery is keeping your oath even when you lose heart

- Bravery is writing music...and then sharing it

- Bravery is telling a deep, dark secret

- Bravery is witnessing to a co-worker and laying hands for healing for someone in the break room

- Bravery is speaking in tongues

- Bravery is being in a relationship with someone and not having a clear picture of the future

- Bravery is being a good friend

- Bravery is having something to say... and not saying it

- Bravery is wearing a naked face and feeling confidently you

- Bravery is allowing yourself to feel and letting your emotions wear a little

- Bravery is refusing the urge to purchase a new article of clothing, turning around to your dingy closet to embrace your worn hammy-downs

- Bravery is making more physical boundaries in your relationship when you fell like you're losing self-control

- Bravery is wearing something you never thought you could pull off

- Bravery is singing out, singing loud

- Bravery is adhering to the conviction of living simpler, and putting out of your mind what others may think

- Bravery is not being afraid to cry in front of others 

Maybe people are right in thinking that bravery is something as grand as fighting for independence. It's just independence, for me, on a smaller scale. It is independence from the norms and natures that hinder personal growth and character development. 

Bravery is fighting for freedom. Freedom for the inward battles of insecurity, fear, doubt, and anxiety. But most importantly, bravery is walking in the knowledge of who you are in Christ, and acting upon it.

Well, it is now the last day of February and I can now say that I have finally made my new years resolution.

This year, I just wanna be brave.

-BJM