Loving Boldly

Courage.

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Something we all wish for yet feel as though we lack.

It effects the innate core of us. Makes us wonder if we can survive the possibility of failure. We wonder if we will even be good at it before we even take the first step to start. Then slowly but surely we take that slow step forward, inch by inch. We find ourselves looking back over our shoulder, looking for words of affirmation, a sign that we’re on the right track.

We wrangle ourselves in the what ifs.

We engulf in the worry if people will like us, or if we will be accepted. We try our hardest not to look stupid.

I struggle with this daily.

Courage.

…to be the one who can laugh at myself even when I feel stupid.

…to reach out to someone despite worrying that they will think I have ulterior motives.

…to be “too nice” sometimes so that others who need someone to reach out to them feel loved.

… to do the unexpected.

… to pay it forward more often.

… to befriend someone who needs a friend even if they live thousands of miles away.

See I think courage and love go hand in hand. Wouldn’t you agree? After all it’s easy to fall in love but it takes courage to put faith in that love to conquer all that the world puts in it’s path. It’s easy to tell someone you love them because their friendship means the world to you, but when they fall off that pedestal, make a mistake, need forgiveness, do you have the courage to love them through it?

I recently had the chance to spend some time talking and praying with someone who I now am blessed to call a friend of mine. She recently took a trip with Compassion International and while she was there she blogged about her experience. There was one day she told the story of a game she was playing with a group of children and as she took her turn and began running she fell down in the dirt. In the midst of feeling embarrassed and beginning to cry, the children surrounded her and began dusting off her clothes.

Courage.

In Maggie’s words:

“how can it be that the start of a second i’m standing here in africa, feeling so incredibly embarrassed that i fell — my once-clean outfit is now covered in dirt — and the end of that one second i’m feeling the love of Christ like i never have before?

these children don’t care about my clothes. they don’t care that my now-dirty clothes look just like their always-dirty clothes. why couldn’t i see that before?

we don’t speak the same language but my tears spoke to them quicker than the rate my tears were falling onto my cheeks.

they saw me hurting and they rushed to my side.

earlier this year, when i agreed to travel with compassion, i had absolutely no clue the lessons i’d be learning. i thought i was agreeing to travel to teach lessons. geez, how selfish does that sound?

like how life is SO not about how clean your clothes are, or what your house looks like, or whether you have to share a car with someone else in your family.

life is about loving on each other — all the time — in the name of Jesus.“

You can read the rest of her story here, and I really hope you will.

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Loving Boldly.

What an incredibly powerful concept.

Is there someone in your life you wish you could love boldly?

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