"Be Brave?"

By Emma Beattie

What do the words ‘Be Brave’ really mean? When I think of bravery I immediately think of power, strength, standing against critics and overcoming fear. It’s a powerful statement.

I always considered bravery as the ability to walk away unafraid and victorious having not crumbled when faced with something we would typically find frightening. However, when you look up the word ‘brave’ in a dictionary you do get words like ‘warrior’ ‘courage’ and ‘fearless’ but what struck me most was a phrase... “To be brave is to be ready to face and endure danger or pain.”

By this definition being brave is not the absence of fear but the courage and ability to face that fear and endure it. To be faced with an uncomfortable and frightening circumstance, but to walk directly into it with a courageous authority.

We can apply this to our lives easily, we have all had situations arise where we have had to choose whether to turn away and let fear overcome us or whether to rise up, power through and ‘face the music’, so to speak. We have all had to be brave at one time or another. Whether that’s starting a new job, moving to a new city, facing a bully – Whatever the situation is will be different for everyone but the common factor is the nervousness, the unsure feeling in the pit of your stomach… ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ 

It takes courage to make these decisions in our lives.

But I believe that there is a deeper meaning to being brave.

I have recently started a new chapter in my life, walking away from negativity and embracing hope. Learning that I am good enough and that actually there is more out there, there is a restoration that is worth fighting for. 

This didn’t come easy. It was a battle, a long struggle I still face, but what started with having to face myself… face the flaws, guilt, shame and anger that I had carried for many years. It took courage to look into my heart and begin to face the hurt that I had tried so hard to forget.

So often bravery is about more than fighting or standing against an outside force, it’s about facing ourselves. Looking in at the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts and daring to make changes to fix what is broken and reach for freedom. It’s not easy but to succeed, in order to find hope we have to endure.

The amazing thing is we do not have to fight the battle alone. Through God it is possible to look inward, recognise the broken parts of our lives and begin a journey to freedom. This is because He is big enough to handle our fear and with Him we can know true bravery. Why should we be afraid when we have an unfailing Father whose love completely overshadows any fear that may stand in our path?

This is not to say all bravery is about finding ourselves. I believe we also have to be brave as Christians.

By that I mean we can’t just sit in our Church buildings, safe behind our walls and pray for change. We need to be brave and take it to the streets. 

Yes we can sing about hope and we should but we need to bring hope. We need to show people, show the world that we are more than just good songs and we can do more because we can BE more!

It isn’t meant to be easy. It is never easy to stand up and be strong against oppression. It is never simple to stand out in the crowd when often, all we want is to mix into the background. Facing yourself, being true to yourself and standing for what you know in your heart to be right can be terrifying.

But we do not have to be brave alone! We can be brave together, we can stand together and be a voice for those without one. We can stand united in the face of poverty, disease, injustice, fear and all the wrongs that keep people bound. It takes courage to stand up and be counted. To say enough is enough and set out to change a wrong. There may be the fear of failing, ‘what if I try and I fail?’ We need to step beyond that, if we want to see change we need to step out and be the change. That is bravery. Daring to take Gods message of hope into the darkest places and being willing to be that light in the darkness!

We can be brave with God.

When we aren’t strong enough He steps in and we can rest safe with Him until we can be brave once again. God knows what we can handle. Sometimes being brave may just be saying ‘God I give this to you, take over!’

What requires you to be brave today is unique to you. We all have our battles but we have one God. A God that is big enough to handle our doubts and our fears. A God that is longing for us to be the movement that creates change, that instils joy and ignites passion and hope where it is needed the most. We don’t have to always win. We will fail. We will get knocked down but being brave is standing back up, carrying on and refusing to give up.

Being brave isn’t just the fight in the ‘fight or flight response’, it isn’t just a short-term reaction to a situation. It’s a choice. A choice to reach for more and be more than the person we were yesterday.

Do you think of yourself as brave?

By Heidi Scrimgeour

Do you think of yourself as brave?

I know I don’t. In fact if you asked me to describe myself that’s certainly not a word that would spring to mind.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned of late, it’s that bravery isn’t just a state of being, like being blonde (I am, with a little help…) or being a major fan of shoes (guilty, especially if they’re red…)

You can’t just act bravely once and then tick a box and claim lifetime membership of the bravery club. Being brave is a choice we make, not just once but again and again, and it rarely gets any easier to choose. It’s a risk, a leap of faith, and sometimes even a shot in the dark.

Being brave means taking a deep breath, closing your eyes and stepping forward into the unknown. It’s letting go of the consequences and having no way of knowing whether you’re falling or flying.

Speaking of which, I spotted this photograph of a greeting card recently and it took my breath away because I feel as if it perfectly captures the season I find myself living in of late. Or maybe it’s not a season but my whole life. (Scary thought…)

Brave is the little spark of feisty hope in your heart that refuses to be extinguished. It’s the quickening of your pulse when you know you’re in over your head - and yet have never felt so alive.

Being brave is a perpetual feeling that you’re flying by the seat of your pants. Sometimes that’s fun; a thrilling adventure. Other times I feel sick to my stomach, and desperate for a little sit down. Even brave battle maidens need a quiet cup of tea now and again.

And that’s ok; being brave isn’t the same as being fearless. In fact true bravery probably means making your peace with the fact that no-one ever died from feeling a little fearful. Well, as far as I know they didn’t…

The bravest things I’ve ever done have always involved a healthy dose of fear, if such a thing exists. Forgiving what culture says is unforgivable. Extending endless grace when no-one would have blamed me for holding a lifelong grudge. Laughing when I felt like crying. Trusting the wisdom of someone else’s ‘You can do this,’ when fear had overwhelmed me and persuaded me that I couldn’t, so there was no point even trying.

And every time I’ve chosen to believe I just might fly - instead of shrinking away from opportunity for fear of falling - I’ve always, always been astonished by the realisation of how close I came to missing the utter joy of soaring when you thought you’d never even get off the ground.

The thing I believed I couldn’t do but which someone else’s bravery in the face of my despair helped to make me fit for? On an almost daily basis I feel speechless with gratitude that I didn’t miss this sweetness. Sometimes it’s someone else’s brave that gets us through. It’s good to have enough to spare.

I’ve said yes to things I didn’t feel ready for. Boarded planes without certainty that it would be worthwhile, and opened my mouth to speak with no clue of what to say. Embraced opportunities that seemed way beyond my capability, and hurtled headlong into seemingly inevitable disaster, only to find it turn to manna in my hands.

So am I brave? Not really. It wouldn’t make my list of five words I’d used to describe me to a stranger. I’m not brave as I am blonde or fond of shoes. 

But I have resolved to leap wholeheartedly towards the adventure I know I’m made for, even though there’s a terrifying chance I’ll fall. I might dither for a moment, or ask a friend to hold my hand as I take the plunge. 

But I will teeter on the brink of that scary precipice and choose ‘brave’ even when I feel I’m not worthy of that label. 

I'll see you there.