Courage is associated with bravery and valor. We think it most often applies to the military, to firefighters, to police officers. We think courage is about saving people from burning buildings, rising up in defense against hostiles during war and facing the gunman in a dark alley. Courage is most certainly present in all these acts of high heroism. But courage can be applicable, as well, to getting out of bed, laying down the past and following the urges of the heart.
Ordinary living takes a certain amount of fortitude. Extraordinary living takes courage. Audacity. Mettle. Extraordinary living requires us to step boldly into our ring of fears and allow the monsters of our minds to have their say. Courage is what keeps us in that ring, facing the horrors of our imagination and our past experiences. Courage is what keeps us breathing and conscious until the monsters and the horrors and the demons of our past begin to sputter and lose their life energy. Whether we are moving to a different location, changing careers or confronting great love, in the face of courage, in the face of great determination, all fears are revealed as false. Powerless. Impotent.
More than any other scenario, to follow the drum beat and the pull of passion from the hardest working muscle in the body takes courage. For love, as lead by the wisdom of the heart, is the final frontier. The passage to the great unknown. The consuming fire that burns the chains of the past to ash. Courage, my friend, is the only thing that will allow us to approach the fire. The only thing that will enable us to throw our whole selves into it. The only thing that will sustain us in the searing ecstasy of fears consumed.
Courage is the bridge that delivers us to the final frontier. To everyday high heroism. To love unleashed. Without it, we are chained to the false, the powerful, and the potent. Our lives remain ordinary.
Rise up, my friend. Rise up with me to meet the dawning force of love. We'll bring our courage. We'll cross the bridge. We'll burn. We'll love. We'll fly.
Yes we will fly. :-)
ReplyDeleteBEAUTIFUL writing as always SFG.