Courage

I have been thinking a lot about courage lately. I guess we really don't know what we are made of until all that we hold dear and sacred is challenged, or the world that we are so used to living in is completely turned upside down. I just read an amazing historical novel by Madeleine L'engle The Other Side of the Sun that talks a lot about the ideas of courage and being strong and brave in the face of overwhelming uncertainty and danger. The story surrounds a poem written by one of the characters. The last line says: "Only on Love's terrible other side does the lion and lamb abide." The idea is that you have to go through terrible heat and anguish sometimes before we can come to peace and realize that Love is the reason we are here. I know a lot of us are dealing with some big scary things--grief, anger, fear, sorrow, uncertainty. Yet I know that we can come through and be purified and renewed to a place where peace and joy abide. I know this in a way that I never thought that I would. Instead of being crushed and burned, I feel like I am stronger, more me, and closer to my creator. Guess what? The Lord won't let us shake apart. He will hold us together no matter what. Here are some quotes for further pondering--

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. ~Dorothy Thompson

Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow. ~Dorothy Thompson

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

It is possible.

L